


Gokusen 3 Remake

by HezaSaitou



Category: Gokusen - All Media Types, Hey! Say! JUMP
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Family, Friendship, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2018-10-25 02:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 59,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10755066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HezaSaitou/pseuds/HezaSaitou
Summary: Gokusen 3, but with one twist: Saitou, Heza. Not only does this girl go to Akadou and reside in Class 3-D, she is the childhood friend of Kazama, Ren. How will Class 3-D get through their senior year when a romance starts between her and the last person they expected: Ogata, Yamato? T rated for language. Hope you like and review.





	1. Gokusen 3 Remake

**Gokusen 3 Remake**

Gokusen 3, but with one twist: Saitou, Heza. Not only does this girl go to Akadou and reside in Class 3-D, she is the childhood friend of Kazama, Ren. How will Class 3-D get through their senior year when a romance starts between her and the last person they expected: Ogata, Yamato? T rated for language. Hope you like and review.


	2. Description

**Description**

Name: Saitou, Heza

Age: 18

Height: 5'6

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Brown with natural light brown highlights (shoulder length)

Father: Japanese, Deceased

Mother: American, Deceased

Childhood Friend/Brother: Kazuma, Ren

School: Akadou

Class: 3-D

Uniform: Black jacket with school crest on the collar (wears it unbuttoned), black v-neck tank-top with gold swirl designs, black skirt (stops at mid-thigh), black tennis shoes (not school issued)

Jewelry: Skull and crossbones necklace (silver), black leather wristband (both wrist), skull stud earrings (silver/ two in the left ear, one in the right ear)

Likes: Beings with her friends (Ren, Kura, Ichi), Sleeping, Watching clouds, Playing pool and darts

Dislikes: Bullies, Preppy girls, Make-up, Things in her hair like hairpins

Weakness: Baby animals, pocky, Being in the dark

Cellphone: Looks like Yamato's but black with a white skull sticker on the front

 


	3. Episode One

**Episode One**

"Ohayou," I skipped up to my friends: Ren, Kura, and Ichi, "ready to go. We're already late."

They nodded. We started walking to school.

"Do you think that teacher is going to be there again today," I asked Ren as we walked through the front gate.

Yesterday was our first day of our senior year and the school didn't waste any time pissing us off. They sent the ugliest teacher to our classroom to be our home room teacher. What really pissed me off was that he thought he could 'control' us with some pretty words.

"No way," Kura exclaimed, "we totally scared him off, right?"

"Right," Ichi agreed, "I hope we get a new teacher with a body like Nurse Sakura-san."

Ren and Kura nodded in agreement. I rolled my eyes.

"Is that the only thing you boys think about," I huffed.

"Like you said Heza, we're boys and boys like b..."

"Okay I get it," I held my hands up cutting off Ren, "you're a bunch of perverts. I get it."

"OI!"

They began to protest, but I started running to our class laughing. They chased me until we got to the door. Ren walked right in swinging his bag. The boys in the class began to make a path for us as we walked to our desks in the back. We got this special treatment only because of Ren. In both our freshmen and sophomore year, he was the head of our class.

We sat down. The boys immediately began to glare across the room. I turned in my seat to see Ogata, Yamato and his gang, Honjo, Kengo and Kamiya, Shunsuke, glaring back. Apparently, Ogata was the head of his respected classes during the last two years like Ren. Sooner or later, they were going to fight to see who would be the head of Akadou, and I'm betting on sooner than later.

"Are you four late?"

I looked up to see a woman in a red jersey standing at our desks. She looked just plain dorky. She wore thin, round glasses and had her hair in low pigtails. Ren glanced at her then turned to the boy behind her.

"Akatsuki-kun," the boy turned and saluted Ren, "who's this?"

"The new homeroom teacher," he stated.

'At least it's not the ugly guy again,' I thought as she introduced herself.

"My name is Yamaguchi, Kumiko. Nickname: Yankumi," she smiled, "nice to meet you."

The boys turned and began to talk about the other female teachers' bodies ignoring the dorky one in front of us. Kura took out his cards and was about to deal them when she took them stating that cards were for break. Kura stood and went to punch her, but she ducked in time sending him flying over her. She stood back up holding a coin.

"I found a 100 yen," she said like nothing happened.

Kura stood back up and went to grab her, but she grabbed his hand. He tried to break free, but her grip was strong. She finally laid his hand in her's. She placed the yen in his hand before going back to the front. Being the short-tempered person that he was, Kura kicked over a deck only to hurt himself.

"My achilles," he moaned.

"How lame," a voice laughed.

"Who said that," Kura yelled as Ichi jumped up.

Honjo did a tiny wave. Kura and Ichi yelled at him causing him and Kamiya to stand. The class started cheering and chanting as the four got in each other's faces. I looked at Ren to tell him to stop them, but he was too busy glaring at Ogata, who was glaring right back. I groaned hitting my head on my desk. This was going to be a long year.

After Yamaguchi left, we decided to skip. We went to the arcade to play some pool. Kura and Ren were the first to play. We laughed when Kura missed his target sending the white ball in the hole.

"Hey Ren, are you really planning on going one on one with Yamato," Ichi asked.

Ren smiled, "yeah. I definitely won't lose to him."

I leaned again one of the other pool tables, "does being head of the school really mean that much to you?"

The three raised their eyebrows at me.

I continued, "I mean can't we all just get along? This is our senior year."

"Are you feeling okay, Heza," Ren asked leaning beside me.

Kura placed his hand on my forehead, "she's not running a fever."

I shoved his hand away, "whatever. I'm going home."

I got off the pool table and grabbed my bag. I started walking away when Ren pulled my arm stopping me.

"Are you okay," he asked.

I looked at him, "I'm fine. I just want to go home right now."

He let go of my arm, "well I'll walk you."

"No, that's okay, " I started walking away again then turned and waved to them, "ja ne."

They waved back, "ja ne, Heza."

I walked out of the aracde and went home. I was almost to my apartment when I heard a young voice cry out for help. Sighing I followed the voice until I reached an abandoned alley. I glanced around the corner to see a little girl being thrown to the ground by an older man. I balled my fist as he kicked her in the stomach. I got out my cellphone and dialed the police. When I was done telling them the situation and the directions to the alley's location, I walked up to the man. He had his back to me so I kick him in the ass sending him flying over the girl like Kura flew over Yamaguchi earlier today. The man groaned. He stood and looked at me.

"You bitch," he snarled.

He raised his fist to punch me, but a hand shot out and grabbed it. My eyes widened at the person.

"Who do you think you are hitting on girls? Are you gay," he growled.

"Ogata," I whispered.

He looked at me, "get her and get out of here."

"But..."

"GO!"

Without hesitation, I picked up the girl and ran out of the alley. I heard sirens and ran in their direction. The cop car stopped in front of me. The cop got out. He looked at the girl in my arms.

"What happened?"

I explain to him what happened before handing him the girl and running back to the alley. When I got there, Ogata was gone, and the man was laying on the ground beaten. I ran to the other end of the alley which lead to the Shirokin Tunnel. I looked around to see if I could spot Ogata, but he was long gone. I sighed and walked on home.

"Are you alright, Heza," Ichi asked as we waited for Ren with Kura.

I nodded my head, "I'm fine. Why?"

He shrugged, "you just seem out of it. Did something happen yesterday?"

"I bet she met up with some guy," Kura poked my nose playfully, "ne?"

I felt my face turn red, "no!"

They started to laugh when Ren decided to join us. He looked pissed.

"What's going on," he pointed to me, "why is Heza blushing?"

Ichi and Kura started laughing harder until they saw the stern look on Ren's face, "it's nothing."

"Whatever. Let's go."

We got to the classroom and Ren walked right up to Ogata.

"Let's sort out once and for all who heads Akadou," Ren stated.

Ogata let out a laugh as he stood, "you want a one on one with me?"

Ren smirked, "yeah."

Ogata's face went stern and serious, "sounds good to me. Let's do it."

Ren's face mirrored Ogata's, "after school, come to Shirokin park."

As the two glared at each other, Ichi and Honjo started glaring at each other followed by Kura and Kamiya. I rolled my eyes at them as the door slid open. Yamaguchi walked inside.

"Ohayou. Everyone take your seats."

The six boys ignored her and kept glaring at each other. She spoke louder thinking they didn't hear her. She stepped towards us as the door slid open again and in walked Sawatari and Yajima.

"Kazama come with us," Sawatari ordered.

Ren turned his glared to Sawatari, "huh?"

Yamaguchi stepped forward, "what's going on?"

"The police want to question Kazama about the serial muggings," Yajima explained.

Ren rolled his eyes before following them out of the classroom with Yamaguchi. I sighed leaning against a desk. It became silent between our gang and Ogata's as the rest of the class continued with their conversations. After a few minutes, I broke the silence.

"Why do they always accuse us first," I crossed my arms, "Ren didn't do anything."

Ogata huffed, "don't be so sure."

I turned to him, "nani?"

Before he could reply, the door slammed open and Ren stormed in with Yamaguchi right on his tail.

"Kazama don't leave," she said trying to calm him down, "I'll talk to the Director. Don't leave."

"I don't believe in what a teacher says," Ren growled before grabbing his bag and walking out.

Yamaguchi was about to go after him, but Ichi stopped her.

"Hey! Why don't you leave him alone," she turned to him, "what can a teacher do?"

She looked around the room, "why? Why can you all still be smiling," the class went silent and she continued, "a comrade who didn't do anything wrong was just suspended!"

"Comrade," Ogata smirked, "we happen to be in the same class. That's all."

The class nodded in agreement.

"Even so, don't you feel anything," she argued, "don't you think anything of it?"

"Not really," Kamiya replied.

"It happens a lot," Honjo stated.

The class laughed and nodded their heads.

Yamaguchi pointed to the door where Ren exited, "that guy was falsely accused and then tossed out! Don't you think it's wrong?!"

"Man she's fired up," one of guys said making the class laugh.

Despite the class' laughter, she tried to make her point, "why not rebel at a time like this!"

"Quit with the sermon already," Kura shouted.

Ichi slammed his hands down, "whatever we say won't change anything."

"It's not like you damn teachers ever listen to what we say anyway," Kura stated.

Yamaguchi walked up to him, "is that why you're telling me to drop it?"

"Oh, by the way," we turned our attention to Ogata as he stood, "he was near the Shirokin Tunnel at the time of the incident. I saw him with my own eyes."

'So that's what he meant before,' I thought, 'and the alley did lead to the tunnel, but that means...'

"It can't be," I said.

"You calling me a liar," he glared.

I avoided his eyes.

"Really," Yamaguchi spoke up.

"Yeah," he snapped before grabbing his bag and leaving.

I felt tears coming to my eyes. Ren was going to get expelled and leave me. He was going to make me graduate on my own and after we promised to graduate together.

Flashback

We stood at the edge of Sakura River. I was trying to skip rocks but failing miserably. Ren laughed every time my rock made a big splash.

"Don't laugh," I yelled at him, "it's not funny!"

He laughed louder, "yes it is."

I glared at him. I walked behind him and pushed him in the river. Sensing what I was going to do, he turned and pulled me in with him. I let out a squeal. He splashed me causing a splash war to start. Of course, Ren won. We laid in the grass catching our breath.

"Hey Ren."

"Nani?"

"Promise me that we'll graduate together."

"What are you talking about," he sat up, "of course we're going to graduate together."

"No I mean you can't get yourself expelled," I sat up and looked him in the eyes, "promise me."

He nodded, "alright, I promise."

I stuck out my pinkie. He wrapped his pinkie around mine.

"I promise, Heza. We will graduate together."

End of Flashback

Thinking back to that day, I knew it wasn't true. Ren never broke a pinkie promise. Never. Right then and there I made a decision, I was going to prove Ren was innocent. What I didn't know was someone else also made that vow.

The next day was kind of weird. I walked in the classroom to see everyone crowded at the front watching Yamaguchi, who was handing out a piece of paper to them. I made my way to Ichi and Kura.

"What's going on," I whispered.

Ichi gave me the paper. It read, 'Looking for a witness.' There was a drawn picture of a man in a hoodie and beside that was two other pictures of a skull necklace and a tribal tattoo.

"I'd like everyone to help prove Kazama's innocence," I looked up at Yamaguchi.

Honjo laughed, "This...isn't he lying?"

"He's not lying," she said.

"Why do you believe that," Kamiya raised his voice.

"I can tell from looking at his eyes," she said plainly.

Kamiya stepped forward and got in her face, "I smell an idiot."

The class laughed as he made his way back to his spot.

"Lend me your hand. Please," she bowed.

Everyone, except me, Ichi, Kura and surprisingly Ogata, threw the paper up in the air and left. I stood there stunned. She, a teacher, willingly bowed for Ren. She didn't even know him, yet she bowed and pleaded for his sake. She slowly raised her head and began to pick up the papers off the ground. Swallowing my pride as a teacher hater, I leaned down and helped her.

She looked at me and smiled, "arigato."

I handed her the papers as we stood, "I'm not doing this to help you. I'm doing this for Ren."

Her smile widened, "you like Ren, don't you?"

I huffed, "before you get the wrong idea, I'll have you know that Ren is like, no is my older brother, and I'll do what it take so we can graduate together like we promised."

"Yoshi," she handed me half of the paper, "you can take the area around the Shirokin Tunnel and I'll take downtown. That okay with you?"

I nodded, "hai."

For the next couple of days, Yamaguchi and I passed out papers and asked people to help find the real culprit. We would start as soon as school ended and until midnight and on weekends. One day after school, we decided to work one area, and she started asking me questions.

"So Saitou, how did you end up at an all-boy school," she asked as she tried to hand a paper to a woman but was ignored.

"No other school would take me," I handed a paper to an older man who seemed to be more interested in my legs, "keep walkin' perv!"

At the tone of my voice, the man quickly walked away.

Yamaguchi chuckled slightly, "well I see why you were placed in 3-D."

"No. The reason for that is I punch a teacher," she gasped, "he placed his hands on Ren violently."

"Oh, I see," she smiled, "so you were just protecting your friends."

"Yeah."

She was about to say something when her phone rang. Her eyes went big suddenly, and I immediately knew there was trouble. She hung up her phone and took off. I followed her. We stopped in front of the police station. A taxi pulled up and Sawatari got out followed by Ren.

"Kazama."

"Ren."

Ren looked at me then dropped his gaze. Sawatari grabbed his arm and began pulling him towards the station. He kept his gaze forward, but started talking to Yamaguchi.

"You knew didn't you, Yamaguchi-sensei. That Kazama was near the crime scene," Yamaguchi tried to think of a reply, "the police heard it from Ogata, Yamato."

My eyes widened. Ogata told the police and crushed our chances of proving Ren's innocence. The police came and took Ren away. I felt the tears coming, but i refused to let them drop.

"Ogata."

I turned to where Yamaguchi was looking to see Ogata watching us. He dropped his gaze and began to walk away. I walked after him. Sensing me following him, Ogata walked faster.

"How could you," I shouted after him, "you bastard! Now, thanks to you, they think Ren is guilty. I thought you were an okay guy because you saved that little girl, but no! You're just a selfish bastard! Ren is innocent, but you threw him under the bus. I'm talking to you," he stopped walking and I stopped, "you may not believe in Ren, but I do and so does Yamaguchi, and we will do anything to prove his innocence! What happened, Ogata? What happened to the guy who saved that little girl?!"

I turned and walked away. I whipped my tears away. I heard fast footsteps behind me. I turned to see Ogata running towards me. He ran past me.

"Matte," I yelled running after him.

He slowed just a little, "what? I thought you wanted to find the real culprit."

I smiled. We ran to the downtown area and began our search. We went to a club and looked around. I went up to the bartender. He said he didn't have a clue about the culprit. I thanked him. I turned to leave when Ogata came up beside me. He glanced over to his right. I followed his gaze to see an older man with dark hair. He reached across the bar to reveal a tribal tattoo. I looked at the paper. It was a match. The man left the club. We followed.

"You should get out of here," Ogata whispered to me as we followed him down the street.

"I can handle myself," I whispered back, "I don't see why you care."

He rolled his eyes, "do what you want."

The man turn down an alley. We quickly followed not wanting to loose him, but when we turned the corner, he was gone. We ran down the alley to see if we could catch up to him.

"So you two are ones following me."

We turned to see the man behind us. I heard footsteps behind us. I turned to see two guys walking towards us. I turned back around to see two other guys behind the dark-haired man.

"You're the one responsible for the serial muggings, aren't you," Ogata asked.

The man stepped forwards, "what if I am?"

We were grabbed from behind and dragged to a warehouse. A bunch of other guys were already there. They closed and locked the warehouse door and threw Ogata to the other guys. The men began to punch and throw him around. I struggled against the man holding me. He laughed.

"Seems like this girl wants to join her boyfriend, Hiro," the dark-haired man turned to us, "what should we do?"

Hiro smirked, "toss her in with him."

The man threw me in the crowd. They began to punch and toss me about like Ogata. I tried to find my footing, but it was impossible. They finally threw me to the ground by Ogata.

Hiro pulled Ogata's hair so he would look at him, "have you and your girlfriend learned your lesson yet?"

"Because of you, someone else has been falsely accused," Ogata groaned.

"So what," Hiro snapped.

"I'm going to...," Ogata grabbed Hiro's jacket, "take you to the cops."

Hiro threw Ogata off making Ogata roll on the ground.

"Don't fuck with me," Hiro yelled kicking Ogata in the stomach earning a cheer from his pals.

I struggled to my feet, "stop it already!"

The men looked at me. Hiro laughed and looked at Ogata.

"Looks like your girlfriend still has some fight in her," Hiro smirked, "watch as I beat it out of her."

Ogata coughed, "stay away from her. Your fight is with me, you bastard."

Hiro kicked Ogata in the side making me snap. I jumped on Hiro's back.

"Don't touch my nakama!"

Not getting a good grip on Hiro, he easily threw me to the ground. He began to kick me until a loud bang shook the warehouse. Thanks to the distraction, I crawled over to Ogata, who was barely conscious. Suddenly the warehouse door blew open. I quickly covered Ogata to protect him from the debris that came at us. I looked up to see Yamaguchi standing in the doorway. She looked at us then at Hiro.

"So many adults ganging up to beat up two high schoolers, and one of them is a girl," she pulled out her pigtails, "you sure are pathetic."

"Who the hell are you," Hiro asked.

"Me," she asked taking off her glasses, "I'm their home room teacher."

I looked down at Ogata to see he was unconscious then back up at Yamaguchi and Hiro's gang.

"Homeroom teacher," they laughed.

Yamaguchi did a slight head toss, "I'd like you to give back my precious students."

Hiro narrowed his eyes, "don't give me that "precious student" crap. Don't make me laugh."

"School is meaningless," one of his pals added, "they don't have much of a future after high school, anyway. I mean, these guys are no different from rejects like us, anyway."

"Don't think of them as one of you," Yamaguchi yelled, "In order to take responsibility for his actions and for the sake of her friend, they came here alone. Even though they were beaten this badly, they tried to save a comrade! That's pretty respectable!"

The men approached her, "don't look down on us!"

I watched in amazement as she dodged, kicked and punched her way through the men to Hiro. Hiro picked up a pipe and swung it at her. She easily dodged every swing. She then hit Hiro right in the gut making him drop to the ground unconscious. I smiled at her as she walked to us putting her glasses back on her face.

"The police are on their way. Let's get out of here," she said before slinging one of Ogata's arms over her shoulder.

I weakly got up and slinged Ogata's other arm over my shoulder. We walked out of the warehouse. We kept walking until we came to a sakura tree on a hill. We placed Ogata at the base of the tree so his head could rest on a root. I sat between him and Yamaguchi.

I turned to her, "where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Could we keep today a secret," she asked putting her hair back in her pigtails, "I could get in trouble with the school for fighting."

I shrugged, "whatever. It has nothing to do with me, anyway."

She smiled. She was about to say something, but a groan cut her off. We looked at Ogata. He opened his eyes.

I sighed in relief, "oh good, you're awake."

"What happened to those guys," he asked sitting up.

Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow, "those guys?"

"The culprit," he said a little irritated.

"When I got there, they had already been apprehended," she lied.

"Huh? But...," Ogata looked at the ground like he was remembering something then back at Yamaguchi.

She smiled, "you two...going overboard. Thank you though, for finding the culprit."

He looked away from her, "it has nothing to do with you."

"I was happy."

He looked back at her, "huh?"

"You believed Kazama, didn't you," she asked.

"I just paid for what I had done," he said trying to act cool.

"I see," she smiled not believing him.

He started to stand.

Yamaguchi quickly stood to help him, "can you make it home by yourself?"

He shoved her away, "I'm not a kid."

She sighed, "even so... But you are one of my precious students. You, Kazama and Saitou."

He glanced at me as I stood then met Yamaguchi's eyes, "don't make me laugh."

He grabbed his bag then made his way down the hill. I followed him after saying bye to Yamaguchi.

"Arigato," he stopped and turned to me, "for helping Ren."

"Whatever," he mumbled before walking off.

I smiled and then went home.

I look around confused. Before class even started, everyone was called down to the gym. Sawatari stood on stage.

"I have an announcement," he announced in the mic, "you might already know this... A student from 3-D came under suspicion for the serial muggings. Thankfully, the real culprit has been captured, but even being under suspicion is a shameful thing!"

Before anyone could blink, the boys of 3-D started shouting. They made their way up to the stage only to be pushed back by the male teachers. The teachers tried to calm them down.

"How can we calm down after having our comrade falsely accused?!"

That pissed me off. They didn't care before, but now that Ren was proven innocent, they want to defend him. I was about to yell at them when Yamaguchi's voice cut through the chaos.

"Don't make me laugh!"

We all turned to the entrance to see Yamaguchi. 3-D walked up to her glaring.

"Can you guys really talk that big? What did you do when Kazama was suspended? Was there a single one of you who believed him besides Saitou," the boys' dropped their gaze in guilty especially Ichi and Kura, "was there anyone who tried to defend him saying he wasn't the culprit? Don't say he's your comrade when it's convenient," she shouted getting her point across.

She walked and got up on stage, "You guys. Clear your ears and listen carefully. You don't call yourselves comrades, if you're just hanging together to have fun. Real comrades take each other head-on, have complete faith in one another, and develop a lifelong relationship. Don't live a meaningless life, not knowing that much! You still have a lot of time until you graduate. It's not too late. Make some real invaluable comrades. I'll be with you guys until the very end. Don't run away!"

I smiled, 'this is going to be one interesting year.'

I looked at the entrance again to see Ren and Ogata. I ran to Ren throwing my arms around him. He laughed pulling away then frowned when he saw my face.

"Who gave you these bruises," he demanded.

"The culprit, but don't worry. Ogata got him for me," I said turning to Ogata.

Ren mumbled a thanks. Ogata shrugged it off and walked away. I rolled my eyes at both of them.

'Boys.'

 


	4. Episode Two

**Episode Two**

It had been a week since the incident with Ren. Surprisingly, Yamaguchi has yet to quit her position as our home room teacher. Despite her constant annoying voice in our class everyday, everything was pretty normal. Like today, a couple of fights broke out. I sat by Ren in the back watching as the boys threw punches at each other. Ichi and Kura were sitting in the front row cheering the fights on as Ren calmly watched. I looked over at Ogata. He was sitting in his desk watching the fights like a leader while Honjo and Kamiya were standing cheering on the fights like Ichi and Kura.

I silently laughed at the six, 'they're more alike than they realize.'

The door slid open. Yamaguchi walked in with Sawatari and Yajima. As the two male teachers yelled at the boys to stop fighting, Yamaguchi tried to pull them apart. Kamiya and Honjo yelled at them telling them that the fights had nothing to do with them. Yamaguchi fell in front of Ichi and Kura. I laughed as they shooed her like a dog. She got back up only to be shoved to the ground again. She suddenly got up on the desk at the front of the class.

"Give it a break already," she demanded causing the class to become silent, "If you want to fight that badly, I'll take you on! Let's go outside!"

Everyone looked at her in shock. She gasped as if she realized something.

She got down from the desk, "Outside...ow...," she knelt down and grabbed her ankle, "ow ow ow ow!"

"Does she honestly think that cover up will work," I mumbled.

The class remained silent for a few more seconds before the bell rang for lunch. Everyone walked out of the classroom like nothing happened. I made my way to the roof. I laid down on one of benches. I watched a few clouds slowly float by before closing my eyes to catch a few minutes of sleep. Suddenly the roof door opened making me open my eyes and jump. I watched Ogata grumpily walk to the edge of the roof. He sighed and leaned against the edge not noticing me. He sighed again.

"I can't sleep with all that sighing you're doing," I announced catching his attention.

"And? Does it look like I care," he snapped looking out to watch others having lunch in the grass.

Ignoring his comment, I got up and walked to him. I leaned against the edge.

"I thought you would've skipped by now with Honjo and Kamiya," I said watching some boys in 3-D stealing some freshman's lunch.

"We were going to, but that annoying teacher...," he grumbled, "why does she try so hard when she knows we hate teachers?"

I laughed, "maybe that's why she tries so hard."

He looked at me, "so what about you? Why aren't you with Ren?"

"Just because we're childhood friends doesn't mean we're always together," I said plainly.

"But aren't you two...," I raised my eyebrow at him, "never mind."

"What? You thought that me and Ren...," I laughed giving him a little shove, "that's gross. He's my brother."

He smiled. I felt my face heat up and quickly looked away hoping he didn't see the blush.

"Um, Ogata..."

"Yamato."

I looked at him shocked, "huh?"

"You can call me Yamato," he put on his tough guy act, "but don't think this makes us friends or anything."

"Wouldn't think of it."

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. We walked to class. When we walked in, he went to his friends, and I went to mine. They looked at me wide-eyed.

I sat down, "what are you three gawking at?"

Ichi leaned towards me, "were we seeing things or were you just with Yamato?"

I scratched the back of my head, "what? No...um..."

Before I could say anything else, Yamaguchi walked in. I sighed in relief. She placed a yellow can on her desk.

"Let's start the 3-D "kick the can" competition," she cheered.

I rolled my eyes, 'baka.'

"Hey! Why do we have to do this childish crap," Honjo complained.

"What this class needs right now is a sense of solidarity and friendship. In order to build that, everyone needs to work and sweat together, and get passionate about the same thing," she explained trying to sound wise, "of course, I'll be participation too."

"What the hell is "kick the can" anyway," Kura asked.

"Huh? You don't know," she said looking at him like he had two heads.

"We don't know, right," Kamyia moved his hand in the air over the class getting nodded in agreement.

Her eyes widened a little, "you guys don't know the fiery and fun game? The world's at its end."

"You always exaggerate things," Ichi commented.

She explained the game and said it was the perfect game for us at the moment. Before leaving, she told us to change into our gym clothes and head out to the field. Of course, no one followed her.

I turned to Ren, "so when are you and Yamato going to fight?"

He crossed his arms, "right after school at Shirokin shrine. Wait, did you just call him Yamato?"

I blushed, "umm...well..."

Kura poked my cheek, "look she's blushing."

I slapped his hand away, "baka! I'm not blushing."

"Yes, you are," Ichi laughed, "it's almost like you like Yamato."

I froze. Their jaws dropped.

"Do you," Ren whispered.

"Of course not," I laughed, "why would you think that?"

The three sighed in relief. I glanced over at Yamato. He was looking right at me. I quickly turned around.

'Oh please tell me he didn't hear our conversation,' I prayed, 'please!'

After school, the whole class made their way to Shirokin shrine. Everyone made a line and began to cheer. Ichi, Kura and I stood on the left side while Honjo and Kamiya stood on the right. Ren and Yamato walked up to each other. Yamato threw his bag to the side as Ren just tossed his to the ground.

"Don't lose Yamato," Honjo yelled.

"Deck him good Ren," Kura punched the air.

Kamiya pointed at Yamato, "you'd better win."

"Go ahead and knock him out," Ichi said coolly.

The class began to cheer louder, "go! Go! Alright!"

"Don't lose you two!"

Everyone became quiet and turned to Yamaguchi, who was standing in the middle of the line.

"Go all out! Fire away," she whooped and punched the air, "fight! Fight!"

Yamato rolled his eyes, "why are you here?"

"Anyway, wouldn't you normally stop it," Ren asked in confusion.

"There's no need to stop a "bare-one," right?"

"Bare-one?"

"A bare-handed one-on-one fight, don't you know," she asked like we were stupid.

"Of course, we don't," Honjo answered.

"Either way, I won't stop it," she announced, "go ahead and fight each other with all your strength. You guys will become real comrades."

Ren huffed, "comrades?"

"Right. Guys wanting to be the boss are like that," she explained earning a glare from Yamato.

"What do you mean comrades," Ichi asked.

"You keep saying that, don't you," Kura observed.

"Let me tell you," Yamato said getting her attention, "I'm not fighting for that."

She sighed and took a step towards him. Before she could take another step her phone rang.

"Just a second."

She walked off, but we could still hear her conversation.

"A brawl at the Shirokin shrine?"

That caught our attention. We walked up behind her so we could hear better. She said something about us having an adorable side causing me to snicker a little.

She hung up and turned to us, "the fuzz are coming."

"Fuzz?"

"The cops," she panicked, "everyone run!"

Without hesitation, everyone ran out of Shirokin shrine. Once out, we scattered. I ran until I couldn't run anymore. Catching my breath, I looked around. Ren and the others were no where in sight. I took a few steps and felt a pain in my right ankle. Groaning, I looked down.

"Great," I said to myself, "I sprained it."

I took out my cellphone to call Ren, but it was dead. I forgot to charge it last night. I started walking with a slight limp. I kept walking until I saw Honjo's blonde hair, and where there's Honjo, there's...

"Yamato!"

The three turned to me. Honjo and Kamiya groaned at the sight of me, but Yamato had a blank look on his face. I limped my way to them.

"What do you want, girly," Kamiya asked obviously irritated.

Ignoring him I turned to Yamato, "can I borrow your cellphone right quick?"

Honjo leaned down so his face was level with mine, "now why would we do that? Why don't you go bother Ren, your little boyfriend?"

I glared at him, "okay, one: he is not my boyfriend; two: does it look like he's here right now, and finally: you're just jealous because a girl hangs out with him while girls run from your ugly face."

"Nani," he growled.

"Honjo, let it go," Yamato ordered, "here," he handed me his phone.

Honjo and Kamiya looked at him in shock as I smiled, "arigato."

I dialed Ren's number. He picked up on the first ring.

"What do you want, Yamato," he snapped.

"That's a rude way to answer your phone," I laughed.

"Heza? Why are you calling from Yamato's number," he asked in a panic.

"That's not important right now," I said glancing at Yamato's group, who were watching me intently, "where are you?"

"Walking with Ichi and Kura."

"That doesn't give me a location, baka," I lectured, "I'm going to your house."

"Why?"

"It's closer," I answered, "I hurt my ankle and don't want to walk all the way home."

"Alright. Ja ne."

"Ja ne," I hung up and handed Yamato back his phone, "arigato. Ja ne."

I walked off. I turned and waved. Yamato raised his hand slightly in response earning another shocked look from Honjo and Kamiya. I got to Ren's house as his sister, Kaoruko, was leaving for her night job. She smiled when she saw me.

"Konnichiwa Heza! Ren's not here right now."

"I know. You see, I hurt my ankle."

"Say no more," she handed me the key to their small apartment, "make yourself at home. You know where the food and extra futons are, and Ren should be home any minute."

"Arigato."

She shook her head, "no need to thank me. You are welcome here any time. Well I have to go before I'm late. Sayonara."

We hugged, "ja ne."

I walked in the apartment that I considered my second home. I looked at the time and decided to make dinner. As soon as it was done, Ren walked in. He grabbed some ice from the ice box and ordered me to sit. I plopped down on a floor cushion. He gently took my right ankle and pressed the ice to it.

"Itai!"

He quickly took the ice away, "gomen," he pressed the ice to my ankle again but more gently, "why did you have Yamato's phone?"

"My cellphone was dead so he let me borrow his," I explained trying to ignore the pain.

"He just let you borrow it?"

"Hai."

He nodded, "I see."

Once the ice was melted, he wrapped my ankle. He gave me some of his clothes to wear for bed. We ate dinner then went to bed. When I woke, I screamed causing Ren to jump awake. He landed on his head with a bang. He quickly recovered and made his way to me.

"What's wrong?"

"My ankle," I whined.

He carefully unwrapped my ankle. I flinched when I saw it. It was swollen and purple. Kaoruko ran in half asleep. Her eyes widened at the sight of my ankle.

"Go get dressed for school, Ren," she said softly, "I'll help Heza."

As Ren got dressed, Kaoruko handed me two painkillers before re-wrapping my ankle. She helped me stand as I got dressed. She gave me a few more painkillers to take with me before saying bye and going back to sleep. Ren and I slowly made our way to school with me leaning against Ren with every step. We made it to the park when Yamato walked in front of us. By the look on his face, I knew he wanted to fight Ren. I guess Ren noticed it too because he nodded. He led me to a stump so I could sit. Ren walked back over to Yamato.

"Let's do this," Yamato started walking towards Ren.

"Time-out," Ren said turning his gaze away from Yamato.

Yamato stopped, "huh?"

"Hey, can we stop this already," Ren asked seriously which shocked me a little, "I don't really care if you lead the class."

"That'd be meaningless," Yamato yelled angry that Ren didn't want to fight him, "unless I beat you in a fight, I can't call myself the head."

Ren shrugged, "I don't really care any more about being the head or ruling Akadou."

"Well then start caring," Yamato growled before punching Ren in the face.

I yelled for Yamato to stop as he kicked Ren to the ground.

"Stand up! Bring it," Yamato yelled.

Ren got up, "you ass!"

He punched Yamato. The two threw punches and kicked at each other. I flinched every time Ren or Yamato's fist collided with the other's face. I was fine with them fighting until they picked up a piece of wood. Forgetting about my ankle, I ran to stop them before they hit each other, but Yamaguchi beat me to it.

"Stop playing around," she grabbed their weapons and threw the boys to the ground, "a one-on-one is supposed to be bare-handed," she threw the pieces of wood to the ground.

"Whether bare-handed or armed, winning's all that matters in a fight," Yamato argued.

"You didn't stop us yesterday, did you? So why the hell are you stopping us now," Ren yelled in frustration.

"Because yesterday was bare-handed," she said like she was talking a child, "the brats nowadays don't know how to fight properly. They don't understand moderation, they go overboard," she said more to herself than the boys shaking her head, "listen up. When you hit someone, your own fists hurt, right? If you feel that pain, you shouldn't want to hit someone for no good reason."

"We don't need a lecture on hitting someone," Yamato interrupted, "a fight is fought in order to win!"

"That's not it at all," she said softly.

"Yamato!"

"Ren!"

I looked over to see Honjo and Kamiya running to Yamato, and Ichi and Kura coming up to me and Ren.

"Alright, listen well," I turned my attention back to Yamaguchi, "people can't live on their own. In order to live you have to have comrades. Real comrades are those who will be with you when you're in the most pain. They can show their weaknesses and tears in front of you. Before you realize it, they're by your side. A fight is to protect those comrades and other things that are precious to you. Fighting just for yourself is meaningless."

"Can it with the pretty words," Yamato said interrupting her again, "I can't take all this shit from you teachers!"

With that said, he walked off with Honjo and Kamiya following. Yamaguchi called after him as Ren turned and left in the opposite direction of Yamato. Ichi and Kura followed, but I stayed.

"Just don't forget this," she called after them, "there's no top, bottom, high, or low among comrades. Those things don't matter," she watched them walk away then turned to me, "nani?"

"Nothing just wanted to say thanks for stopping them," she smiled at me, "well I better catch up to Ren before he thinks I followed Yamato."

"You've accepted Ogata as a comrade, haven't you?"

I thought back to the warehouse incident last week.

Flashback

Hiro kicked Ogata in the side making me snap. I jumped on Hiro's back.

"Don't touch my nakama!"

End of Flashback

I smiled slightly, "I guess I have."

I caught up to Ren, and we walked around town. My ankle was killing me, but I didn't complain. I knew Ren was pissed, and none of us wanted to bother him. It was nighttime when the guys started to talk to Ren to cheer him up.

"There's a cute girl working at that restaurant now. Let's go there," Kura suggested.

"Not interested," Ren grumbled.

We kept walking as Kura talked about going to karaoke. We were passing an overpass when Ichi stopped us.

"Hey, isn't that Yamato?"

I looked under the overpass to see Yamato, Honjo and Kamiya being beat up by the Yellow Jacket gang. I wanted to go and help them, but I knew I didn't stand a chance against all those guys even if my ankle was 100%. I looked at Ren, who was trying to decide what to do. Suddenly he ran into the overpass with a yell. He grabbed one of the caution stick and began swinging it making the gang back up. Ignoring my ankle, I ran to Yamato.

"Let's run for it," Ren called.

I grabbed Yamato's hand and took off. The seven of us ran until we came to the little bridge by Shirokin shrine. We sat down out of breath.

Ichi panted, "I can't run anymore."

"We should be fine, coming this far," Honjo said looking around.

"Man, if I run anymore, I'm going to die," Kura complained.

Kamiya nodded in agreement, "no kidding."

After catching our breath a little, we noticed who we were sitting beside. Ichi with Honjo, Kura by Kamiya, and I was sitting between Ren and Yamato. I froze realizing that I was still holding Yamato's hand. As he and Ren turned away from each other like the others, I quickly let go of his hand. The guys went silent in embarrassment.

"Are you hurt," Ren asked breaking the silence.

"Nah," Yamato answered.

"I see...," Ren said awkwardly.

Yamato sighed, "I owe you one, huh?"

"It doesn't matter," Ren mumbled.

We all stood. Yamato said bye to Honjo and Kamiya before heading home. I called after him. He stopped. I said bye to Ren and walked up to him.

"Mind if I walk with you? I'm this way too."

He shrugged before walking again. As we walked, there was a silence between us, but surprisingly, it wasn't weird or awkward. It was a comfortable silence until I stepped wrong and hissed.

He stopped and turned to me making me stop too, "daijoubu?"

I looked at him, "oh, un. I hurt my ankle running from Shirokin shrine yesterday, but I'm fine now."

I smiled to show I was fine, but he saw right through it.

"Baka," he started walking again, "where's your house?"

I walked after him, "I can make it from here on my own."

"No, I'll walk you," he stated leaving no room for argument, "now which way?"

I pouted and pointed the way to my apartment. We walked along until we came to my apartment. I turned to him.

"Arigato, for walking me home," he nodded, "and thank you for last week. I never thanked you for helping that little girl."

He shrugged, "it was no problem."

"You're good guy Yamato," I smiled.

Before I could stop myself, I kissed him on the cheek. With a quick good-bye, I entered my apartment and closed the door.

I laughed. Kura was complaining none stop about running too much yesterday as we made our way to school.

"Hold on! I ran so much yesterday. I'm all sore!"

"You're sore! Try running with a sprained ankle," I said only to be ignored.

Ichi and Ren laughed.

"Kura, you're totally out of shape."

"Ah! I can't run anymore," Kura yelled to the sky.

"Metabolic Syndrome," Ichi asked making me and Ren laugh harder.

Kura chased us. We ran until the gang from last night circled us. Ren immediately went into big brother mode holding me protectively to him. The leader stepped forward.

"Thanks for yesterday."

We were forced to a warehouse where the gang began to beat us. We tried to fight back, but there were too many. With my ankle in shape it was, I couldn't fight like I wanted. Ren one time pushed me out of the way when a guy swung a pipe at me. He hit Ren in the back making him drop. Ichi and Kura soon joined Ren on the ground. The leader pulled my hair to keep me from falling.

"With high school brats looking down on us, we can't maintain face."

"Stop it!"

Everyone turned to the entrance to see Yamato, Honjo and Kamiya.

"What, did just three of you come to save these guys," the leader asked all smug, "are you idiots?"

The gang laughed.

"Those guys weren't involved. Keep your hands off them," Yamato demanded.

"Don't fuck with me," the leader pulled my hair harder, "they're your comrades, right?"

"They're not my comrades," Yamato responded trying to protect us, "so get your hands off of her!"

The leader let go of my hair allowing me to fall to the ground, "stop talking nonsense!"

Yamato's gang ran at the Yellow Jackets entering the fight. I stood up with the Ren and the others. We all tried to fight them off, but were still out numbered. Under the pressure of my ankle, I drop to the ground. I felt like passing out as I got kicked in the stomach and back over and over. I closed my eyes. Suddenly I felt weight on top of me. The person wrapped their arm around me protectively. I clinged to their jacket as I slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing I registered was Yamaguchi's voice.

"Cut it out!"

I opened my eyes and groaned from the brightness of the sun. I sat up.

"You woke up."

I looked to my right to see Yamaguchi sitting beside me in the grass. I looked around to see we were beside the sports field at school. All of 3-D were running around with smiles on their faces.

"What are they doing," I stretched.

"Kick the can."

"Nani?"

"You had us all worried," she stated.

"I didn't mean to worry anyone," I groaned, "how did I get here?"

"You were carried. I didn't think I would ever see him that worried about someone."

I smiled, "Ren is a softie when it comes to his friends."

"I'm not talking about Kazama," I tilted my head in confusion, "Ogata is the one who carried you."

I looked out at the guys and saw Yamato laughing with the others. I felt my heart beat faster. Yamaguchi continued.

"After bring you here, he didn't want to leave you. The others convinced him that you would be fine, and I said I would sit with you so he could go have fun with the others."

"I'm glad he did," I admitted.

Ichi looked over at me, "HEZA!"

This caused everyone to look at me. I gave them a small wave as they ran to me. They swarmed me with questions and cheers. I stood only to feel a horrible pain rip through my body. I began to fall when someone supported me. I looked up hoping it was Yamato, but I saw Ren's face.

"Don't get up so fast," he lectured.

I stuck my tongue out at him and smiled. Everyone laughed at us.

"You had us all worried," Honjo said as Kamiya lightly patted my head.

I smiled, "you guys.."

"You sure did," I looked over to see Yamato walking up to me. He had a serious look on his face,"don't scare us like that again."

I could tell he was trying to act cool in front of everyone and laughed, "hai."

 


	5. Episode Three

**Episode Three**

I waited for my favorite six so we could walk to school together. I was happy. No, more than happy. I was ecstatic. Not only was my ankle all healed and I could finally walk without any pain, Yamato and Ren agreed to being co-heads of Akadou. Now instead of being separate gangs of three and four, we were a gang of seven.

"Heza!"

I turned to see the boys walking up to me in a line. On the right (from my POV) were Ichi and Kura; on the left were Kamiya and Honjo with Yamato and Ren in the middle. I jogged up to them.

"Ohayou," I walked in between Yamato and Ren completing the line, "I'm so tired."

"When aren't you tired," Ren ruffled my hair.

I swatted his hand away, "when I'm sleeping," Yamato laughed, "I'm being serious."

He didn't say anything, but kept his smile.

"Ah, I know how you feel Heza. I'm feeling lazy today," Honjo stretched.

"Should we skip," Ren suggested.

Kura jumped up and down excitedly, "yeah, let's! Let's go to karaoke!"

"Karaoke again," I sighed, "can't we do something quiet while we skip so I can catch so z's?"

"Wouldn't that be a waste," a voice said behind us.

We turned to see who it was but no one was there. Were we hearing things? Suddenly something hit each of us in the back of the head.

"Good morning you guys!"

We groaned as we recognized the voice. We turned again to see Yamaguchi standing there all cheerful like she was every morning.

"Not going to class on such a perfect day for studying. How would you plead before the Sun God," she asked.

"Huh?"

You guys seem to be getting along great. I love it," she cheered.

"What is that," Kura looked at her like she was stupid, "do you have a problem?"

"Of course, I have no problem," she dramatically look off into the distance, "isn't getting along a beautiful thing?"

Yamato called her an idiot, and we started walking again. We started making some food suggestions when Yamaguchi pushed her way through sending me flying into Yamato. I quickly moved away as Yamaguchi turned to us.

"Don't be late! Your beloved beautiful teacher is waiting for you," she said before running off.

"Beloved," Ren asked in confusion.

Yamato laughed, "beautiful teacher?"

We all tilted our heads, "who?"

When we got to the classroom, we all moved our desks to the middle of the back. I started to rest my eyes when Kamiya hugged me from behind.

"I never noticed before, but Sai-chan is kawaii," he squealed.

"Get off," I said in a monotoned voice not opening my eyes.

Ignoring my comment, Kamiya hugged me closer to him, "did you ever notice Honjo?"

I opened my eyes to see Honjo shaking his head. He leaned towards me so our face were a few inches apart.

I heard Ren groan at how close the two boys were to his 'little sister', "leave her alone guys."

"Do you have a boyfriend Sai-chan," Honjo asked ignoring Ren.

I arched my eyebrow at him, "Sai-chan?"

"That's our nickname for you. Do you like it Sai-chan," Kamiya whispered in my ear.

His breath made my ear tickle, and it wasn't the 'laughing' tickle. It was the 'itchy' tickle.

"Guys quit harrassing Heza," Yamato demanded.

Honjo muttered apology before leaning back in his chair while Kamiya removed his arms from my person and went to his desk pouting.

"What about you Yamato," Kamiya asked, "did you notice before how kawaii Sai-chan looked?"

"Yeah," Yamato answered like it was an obvious answer.

The boys jaws hit the floor, "nani?!"

I felt my face heat up.

"And to think we thought you weren't normal," Honjo laughed.

"Yeah! Everytime we would go to hook-up parties, he wouldn't go," Kamiya explained.

The guys laughed, except Yamato, and then got on the subject of hook-up parties. I didn't pay any attention to them. I was still shocked by Yamato's answer.

'He thinks I'm cute,' my heart began to beat faster, 'he thinks I'm cute! Cute!'

"Heza, you okay over there," Ichi asked pulling me out of my thoughts.

I gasped realizing I had a big, goofy grin on my face. I quickly dropped it to a small smile and nodded. They shrugged and went back to their conversation. I sighed in relief.

'Thank you for making them so dense.'

Minutes later, Yamaguchi walked in with a hand-made bandana on and carrying a poster. She stuck the poster on the board before turning to us with a huge, determined smile. She explained that she wanted us to take part in next week's sports competition.

"I call it, Yankumi and 3-D's Win-at-Rugby Operation," she clapped.

"By the way, what does Yankumi mean," Kura asked.

"That's my nickname. Don't hold back, call me that."

The class started to ignore her going back to their fun and conversations. I read the poster further and noticed something.

"By the way," everyone went silent and turned to me, "the phrase is 'All for One, One for All'."

She looked at me in shock, "really?"

"Yeah. My mom was American so she would have me watch old American movies with her. One of them was The Three Musketeers," I explained.

Everyone laughed at her mistake as she looked at the poster in panic as if it was the end of the world. After recovering from her mistake, she tried to encourage us to get us pumped up for the sport's competition. Of course, no one liked it because it was too much work and not really '3-D', but she still told us to meet her out at the field. I'll admitted. I admire her determination to get us into school events.

After school, we all decided to walk around. We ended up passing a tennis court where the girls from Momo High were practicing. Ren, Ichi, Kamiya, Kura and Honjo glued themselves to the fence as me and Yamato put our backs to them in embarrassment. I rolled my eyes at their stupidity.

'Yet they wonder why they don't have girlfriends.'

"A sports competition without girls is meaningless," Ren declared grabbing the fence.

"I want half the class to be girls," Ichi wished.

Kamiya agreed but said, "two-thirds girls wouldn't be bad either!"

"Three-thirds would be good, too," Kura countered.

"That'd just be a girls' school," Yamato noted as the guys stupidly nodded in agreement with Kura.

"Why is our school only guys," Honjo whined getting the girls' attention.

I glared at him, "I'm not a guy."

Yamato grabbed the collar of my jacket to keep me from killing Honjo. One of the girls hit a ball over the fence. The boys stared at it frozen. A second later the boys began tripping over each other trying to get the ball. The girls began to back up in fright as they fought over the ball. Once the boys noticed the girls turned to run away, they tried to jump the fence, but the fence was to high. As they hanged on the fence, they called after the girls. When the girls didn't come back, they got down in disappointment.

"Let's go," Yamato said letting me go.

In frustration, Kura tried to throw the ball over the fence, but instead it hit the top of the fence. The ball bounced off the fence then bounced left and right before flying towards us. We moved out of the way. After the ball passed by me, we heard a crash. We slowly turned to see a blonde man on the ground rubbing his head where the ball hit him. Before the man saw us, we ran for it.

"That was close," I panted.

The guys nodded in agreement. We found a nearby drink machine and got a can drink. We kept walking trying to think of something to do. After a few gulps, I didn't want mine anymore.

"Does anyone want the rest," I asked holding up my drink.

"Wait, if I drink from that can, it would be like an indirect kiss from Sai-chan," Kamiya squealed clinging to Honjo, who nodded as Kura and Ichi laughed at them.

The two reached for the can, but Yamato grabbed it. He drank the rest and threw it away. Kura and Ichi looked at him in shock as Kamiya and Honjo froze with their hands out.

Yamato looked at them like nothing happened, "what?"

"Our indirect kiss," Kamiya and Honjo whined.

Ren rolled his eyes, "I wish you two would stop. It's pathetic."

I laughed, "oh yes and staring at girls through a fence is admirable. Totally boyfriend material."

"Shut up," he mumbled.

"Why are you getting on to us and not Yamato for having an indirect kiss with Sai-chan," Kamiya asked looking at Ren intently.

Kura, Ichi and Honjo joined Kamiya and stared at Ren waiting for him to answer.

"It's simple. I'd rather her date Yamato than you two and be fine with it," he simply stated, "Kura and Ichi are her brothers like me so I don't have to worry about them."

"Don't you just love it when people talk about you as if you're not there," I said to Yamato, but spoke loud enough so the others could hear me.

"Well would you want to date them," Ren argued.

"Of course not, but that doesn't mean I like to be talked about when I'm walking right beside you," I barked back.

We glared at each other before dramatically turning our heads from each other. The others watched us in amusement. Oh yeah, we were siblings. Maybe not by blood, but brother and sister all the same.

The stars were out by the time we reach the downtown area. Much to my frustration, we still didn't decide on what to do. I finally gave up and let the boys decide.

"Where shall we go," Kura asked excitedly.

Kamiya snapped his fingers, "shall we go to our usual place?"

"Let's go," Ren said making Kura jump more with excitement.

"These guys were studying until now," Honjo asked in awe as students flowed out of the doors of the Advanced Educational Seminar.

"Duh, it's a cram school. That's why we don't go," I laughed, "right Ichi?"

Ichi didn't answer. He was talking to some guy who just left the cram school.

"Takasugi?"

"Ichimura."

Ichi smiled, "man it's been a long time."

Takasugi looked Ichi up and down, "see ya," he walked up to his friends, "sorry."

"What, do you know someone from Akadou Academy," one of them asked.

"No, I don't know that guy," Ichi's face fell, "let's go."

Takasugi looked back at Ichi, but kept walking. Ichi's face fell more.

"What was that," Ren asked not sensing the atmosphere, "someone you know?"

Ichi nodded, "yeah."

"But man, he's got a pretty bad attitude," Kura yelled hoping the snob heard him.

"That uniform is from Aoshiba school, right," Yamato asked being the observant one.

"Huh, Aoshib...Aoshiba," Honjo asked looking at Yamato, who nodded, "isn't that where the really smart kids go?"

This made Ren more curious, "why do you know someone from there?"

"Well...," Ichi smiled, "you know, I went to Aoshiba for junior high."

We jumped back in shock, "huh?"

"Hey Ichi...were you actually smart," Kamiya hesitantly asked trying not to offend Ichi.

Ichi laughed at our reaction, "I guess. But I fell behind and couldn't go the high school there."

"But it's amazing just having been there," Honjo complemented.

"But you can't tell that now, can you," Ichi said doing one of his famous poses.

Honjo mocked his pose, "not like we can!"

We laughed and started walking again. Ichi fell behind as we talked about playing darts. I seemed to be the only one to notice and slowed down to walked beside him.

"You okay Ichi?"

"Un," he sighed, "just thinking."

"Don't worry about what that jerk said."

"I won't," he smiled, "hey Heza, do you like Yamato?"

"What," I blushed, "of course not! Quit trying to change the subject from you to me."

He laughed, "so you do like him."

"Shut up," he laughed harder, "stop making fun of me!"

I was pissed. Pissed at every fuckin' teacher at that school except Yamaguchi. When something bad happens, they point their fingers at us. First, Sawatari comes barging in our class suspecting us for messing up a picture of the Director of our school, and I'll admit that it probably was one of us. Second, he has the balls to say we were most likely responsible for the recent attack that were happening at night.

"Calm down Sai-chan," Kamiya said putting his arm around my shoulder, "you act like it hasn't happen before."

I moved my shoulder out from under his arm, "I know, but it still pisses me off."

"I agree with Sai-chan," Honjo said, "that damn Sawatari is always accusing us of doing stuff like that."

"Should I deck him once," Kura asked making me laugh for the first time that day.

"Hey look there," Ren pointed to a takoyaki stand.

Our conversation was dropped as we ran over to the stand.

"Three takoyaki please."

The men behind the stand gave us our order. We paid then sat on the benches they had in front of the stand. Kamiya shared with Honjo while Ichi shared with Kura, and I shared with both Ren and Yamato.

"Yamaguchi...do you think she's still waiting for us," Kamiya wondered taking a bite.

Earlier when Yamaguchi defended us, again, against Sawatari, he say her poster for the sports competition. Of course, he said the competition had nothing to do with us which angered us. Thinking we were motivated, she told us to meet her out at the field again, but as always we didn't follow.

"She's really persistent," Honjo said with his mouth full.

"Maybe we should've gone to the practice for once," Ren said earning him some weird looks from us, "Yamaguchi has done a lot for me..."

Yamato paused, "well, that's true."

Getting up to leave, the two guys behind the stand called to us, "hey you guys. You're from Akadou Academy?"

We nodded.

The one with the mustache held out a takoyaki, "here's one on us. Take this with you."

We looked at each other in confusion. Ren told Kura to go get it. He hesitantly reached for it.

"Um thanks."

The man suddenly grabbed his arm making us all flinch, "listen carefully to what your teacher says."

"Okay."

He let go of Kura. We backed up a little before turning and running away. When we were a good distance away, we stopped.

"That was just weird," I said.

The guys nodded. We walked until we ended up in the downtown area again. Kura mentioned something about karaoke. The guys started complaining about Kura's voice.

"Gomen," Ichi called, "I'm heading home first."

Before we could say anything, he ran off.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Who knows."

I thought for a moment, "you don't think it has anything to do with that guy from last night. You know, the one from Aoshiba."

They shrugged.

"I'll go talk to him," Kura said before running after Ichi.

I walked into the classroom to see Sawatari leaning over Ichi's desk. I walked out, went around and walked in through the back door. I moved my way through some of the guys and sat down at my desk which was inbetween Ren's and Yamato's.

"What's going on," I whispered to no one in particular.

Ren answered, "Ichi hit that Aoshiba guy."

"Eh? You mean the one from the other night."

"Yeah."

"What's the reason? Didn't you hear me Ichimura," Sawatari asked leaning closer to Ichi, "what is your reason for hitting a student from Aoshiba High School?"

"Ichimura, you have a reason, right? Tell us," Yamaguchi said wanting Ichi's side of the story.

"It was their bad," Kura began but Ichi stopped him.

"You guys probably started it, didn't you? There's no reason Aoshiba students would start anything with you," Yajima said before hiding behind Sawatari.

"Head teacher, I will have a good talk with him. Can you leave it at this for today," Yamaguchi requested then bowed.

"We'll have to consider a severe punishment for Ichimura," Sawatari said smugly before leaving with Yajima.

Yamaguchi turned to Ichi, "what happened? You're not the type to hit someone without a reason."

"Ichi didn't do anything wrong. Those Aoshiba bastards were getting all cocky...," Kura tried to explain, but Ichi stopped him again.

"Don't say anything unnecessary."

"Yeah, but...Ichi was their classmate in junior high," Kura explained to Yamaguchi, "even so, those guys were saying bad stuff."

"That doesn't matter," Ichi yelled standing up, "it doesn't matter, does it? I got upset and hit him. That's all," he sat back down, "I wonder if I should drop out of school."

We all looked at him in shock, "huh?"

"Ichimura," Yamaguchi exclaimed.

Ichi continued, "dropping out won't make a difference anyway. Our future won't amount to much anyway. Everyone probably thinks the same way," no one said anything so he continued with his point, "well, I guess we can pretty much picture it. We're different from Aoshiba students. We're always immediately suspected. In the end, we get pegged right away. Nothing's going to change, huh?"

"Why," Yamaguchi asked, "why do you have to compare yourselves against others? Whether you're labeled or not, aren't you pegging yourselves? It's not the world or the teachers, you're comparing yourselves against others! Then, you throw in the towel from the start, saying it's no use. Your lives aren't over at this point! It goes on and on after school is over! You can start over whenever you realize you need to."

Her words cut deep, and she was right. But that only made Ichi madder.

"Those are some pretty words," he stood and got in her face, "like some damn teacher would understand my feelings!"

He left. In the years I've known him, I've never seen him loose his cool like that. The next day he didn't come to school. I sat in my desk depressed. What if he did drop out of school? After school, Kura finally told us what happened.

"You need to tell Yamaguchi," I told him.

"No way," he argued, "why would I tell a teacher?"

"Because she believes in him," I explained, "you need to tell her so she doesn't think that her believing in him is a waste."

Kura sighed, "alright."

We went to the classroom to find Yamaguchi staring at Ichi's desk.

She looked up, "what's wrong guys?"

I pushed Kura forward.

"Ichi..," he began, "he hit that guy from Aoshiba for my sake. No matter what that guy said Ichi just took it. But...I got upset and got ready to hit him."

Yamaguchi nodded in understanding, "I see."

"Ichi...He's that kind of guy," Ren said softly.

"That's all I wanted to say. See ya," Kura said wanting to get out of there.

We started to leave, but Yamaguchi stopped us.

"You guys. You've got some good points, don't you?"

"Shut up," Kura yelled trying to hide a smile.

The next day Ichi still didn't show. Kura texted him saying we were waiting. I sighed, and Yamato put his arm around my shoulder in comfort. I was too upset to blush or even worry about it. I just wanted Ichi to come back to school and be with us. The door slid open, but sadly it wasn't Ichi. It was Isoge with his three friends, and they were wrapped up. They made their way to us and began talking to Ren and Yamato. They told us how they end up like that, and Ichi's reaction when he saw them.

"He said Takasugi," Ren asked.

Isoge nodded, "yeah."

"It was those Aoshiba bastards from before," Kura reminded us.

"Those Aoshiba guys, screwing around like that," Ren growled.

"Yamato, what should we do," Honjo asked, "are you just going to leave it like this?"

We turned to Yamato, who looked really scary at the moment.

"It's obvious, isn't it?"

Ren jumped up and left along with Yamato, and where are leaders go, we follow. We looked all over for Ichi and that Aoshiba bastard. Finally, we got word that they were in a warehouse behind Aoshiba. We ran all the way there, never stopping. When we got there, we saw seven Aoshiba students circling a beaten Ichi with metal pipes in their hands.

"Stop it," I shouted getting there attention.

"You guys," Ichi said weakly.

We picked up pieces of wood, pipes and anything else we could use as a weapon.

"You bastards," Yamato yelled, "you've treated our friends so nicely."

"I hope you're prepared," Ren threatened.

The Aoshiba students threw their weapons to the ground confusing us.

"If you want to hit us then hit us," Takasugi said, "but we'll run to the police. When we do, it's you that will be in trouble. You might all be expelled, huh? Maybe worse than expelled."

"Shut up," Kamiya demanded.

Honjo hit the ground with his weapon, "who cares about expulsion!"

"If that's the case, then we'll tell the police that you're behind the serial beatings, " Kura yelled getting yells in agreement.

The Aoshiba students laughed, "do what you want. But you know, I wonder who the world and the police will believe? Adults aren't in the habit of believing you guys, are they? No one will believe anything trash like you will say."

"Damn you!"

We went to hit them, but a voice stopped us like always.

"I'd believe it!"

We turned to see Yamaguchi. Walking towards us, she began to get in her serious mode.

Takasugi raised an eyebrow, "who are you?"

"Me? I'm their homeroom teacher," she simply stated.

"Huh?"

She walked in front of us so she was between us and the Aoshiba bastards, "don't do anything."

"Don't interfere," Yamato demanded.

She turned to us sharply, "you still don't understand, do you? If you start something here, you'll sink to the same level as these guys!"

"Same level...that hurts a bit," Takasugi said smugly.

She turned back to them then looked at the metal pipes on the ground, "are you elite students playing with such things?"

Takasugi sighed, "unlike these guys' fighting, we are cleaning up the world. If we continue like this, we'll be winners. But these guys have no value to society. These guys have no future."

"Of course, they do," Yamaguchi yelled, "true, society looks at these guys as the bottom of the barrel. They can't study and only cause problems. They are guys who, before even trying, quickly say "whatever" or "what a pain." But you know. Everyone, just like you, has lots of possibility. They just haven't taken that first step. They have the same future as you. Once they take that step, they can start to change!"

After a short pause, Yamato tossed his weapon to the ground followed by Ren and then myself. Everyone followed suit shocking the Aoshiba students. After hearing the last weapon hit the floor, Yamaguchi continued.

"To judge people's worth by their academic ability alone, isn't that the worse thing you can do as a human being," she asked, "no matter what sort of high and mighty reason you give, what you are doing is a full-fledged crime."

In panic, Takasugi picked up a metal pipe. He swung it at Yamaguchi, but she grabbed it.

"Guys like you who don't understand people's feelings or pain...have no right to determine people's worth," she pushed him to the ground, "you guys can start over too."

Takasugi got up and ran with his friends not far behind. We ran to Ichi. Ren and Yamato stood him up and supported him. I laughed a little when Yamato poked a scratch on Ichi's face making him flinch and Kura swat his hand away. We were all back where we belonged, together.

"You got us worried," we turned our attention to Yamaguchi, "well done guys, for not starting anything."

"Someone stopped us like made, that's all," Yamato mumbled.

I nodded, "yeah, someone whose words cut deep."

She looked at us proudly, "that means you've made progress by one step. Don't forget. You guys can change and have lots of possibilities. You can make your own future. So have more confidence in yourselves. Right, Ichimura?"

On the way back to school, Ichi stopped us.

"Hey," we turned to him, "the sports competition, let's participate. I don't want to keep feeling bad like this. I don't want to give up before I even try. You don't know until you try."

"I'm in," Ren announced.

"Eh? You're in," Honjo joked.

"Me too," Kura jumped a little.

Kamiya looked at the sky, "I guess I'll do it too."

Everyone started to agree, "Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Geez..," Yamato said sarcastically, "no choice, huh?"

I raised my hand, "even though I'm not allowed in the competition, I will cheer you guys on!"

"Nani?! Can you imagine Sai-chan in a cheerleader outfit," Kamiya went off to his own world.

"Oi! You perv," I yelled going to attack him, but Ren beat me to it.

He put Kamiya in a head-lock. Kamiya started screaming while tapping Ren's arm. We all laughed as Ren let Kamiya go.

"Alright, let's do this," Yamaguchi cheered, "fight-ohhhh. Oh!"

I stayed by Yamaguchi as the guys played rugby. They were laughing and having a great time.

"That's the way," we cheered.

Ichi threw Yamaguchi the ball, "here you go, Yankumi."

She smiled at the ball until she realized, "you...just called me Yankumi."

"What about it," he laughed, "we can call you that as many times as you want."

We all agreed.

"Alright everyone," she pointed out to the distance, "we're going to race into the sunset! Let's go!"

"Huh?"

"Hurry up and come on," she encouraged.

"There's no sunset," Yamato laughed.

We smiled before running after Yankumi. I ran along side Ren. I looked around then looked at him.

"Hey Ren," I panted, "can I ask you something that's been bugging me?"

"Hai," he panted back.

"What you said the other day about how you wouldn't mind it if I dated Yamato, did you mean it?"

He stopped, "nani?"

I stopped and turned to him, "I'm serious. Did you mean it?"

He shrugged, "I guess. Why, you like him or something?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I think I do."

"Well when you figure it out, ask me again," he said before taking off.

I sighed and looked at the sky. Did I like Yamato and if I did, did he like me back?

 


	6. Episode Four

**Episode Four**

Everything was going pretty normal. The sports competition just ended, and everyone in 3-D were going to celebrate, but first we had to choose a place to have our party.

"Yamato, which one," Honjo asked handing Yamato a magazine full of party places.

He smiled and pointed to one, "this one looks good."

The class cheered.

Ichi twirled the rugby ball in his hands, "now that the sports competition is over, it's time to celebrate."

The class cheered louder. They started talking about drinking and other stuff that we were too young to do.

"You guys are just walking into the Head Teacher's hands," Yankumi said.

We jumped back at her sudden appearance.

"Why are you here," Yamato asked hesitantly.

She started to say something when Kamiya let out a shout, "why are you okay?"

"Don't tell me," Honjo pointed to the back door of the classroom, "you came through that door."

Yankumi nodded, "yes I did."

"No," the class groaned in defeat.

I laughed at how dramatic they were being just because she didn't fall for their trick. Yankumi asked if there was something wrong with the other door. Before anyone could answer, the door slid open and the board eraser that was meant for Yankumi fell on a woman. The class froze. My eyes widened when I finally recognized the woman. I slowly began to shake Ren, who was asleep this whole time, awake. Hearing the woman's coughs, he turned his head to her.

He quickly stood, "aneki!"

The boys gasped, "aneki?"

"You're Kazama's older sister," Yankumi asked slowly.

Kaoruko nodded making the boys gasp again.

"Eh?!"

Yankumi ushered the Kazama siblings to the office and told us to stay put, but being the curious bunch we were, we followed. Yamato and I stood inside the office by the door while the others bunched up in the doorway staring at Kaoruko.

"She's so pretty."

Yamato rolled his eyes, "you guys."

I narrowed my eyes at them, "hands off."

I watched as Kaoruko handed Yankumi one of her business cards, but it was for her hostess job. Ren quickly snatched away from Yankumi's hands and gave it back to Kaoruko scolding her. Kaoruko quickly put it up and handed Yankumi her other card that showed she was a dentist assistant. Kaoruko explained that they didn't have any parents so she had to work two jobs so they could eat. Sawatari chose then to enter the office.

"Oh Kazama, what have you done this time," he asked as he walked up to the three.

Yankumi stood, "Head Teacher, this is Kazama's older sister."

Kaoruko bowed to his when she was introduced.

"Kazama's older sister," he looked at Kaoruko curiously then his face lit up, "Sara-chan!"

Kaoruko looked at him and smiled, "Goro-chan!"

"Goro-chan?!"

Sawatari looked at us then around before focusing his attention on Kaoruko, "Sara-chan, you're Kazama's older sister?"

"You're a teacher at this school," she smiled, "thank you for taking care of Ren."

"No, no, he's a bright young man," he said getting curious looked from all of us, "take your time."

As he went to his desk, I turned to Yamato, "sounds like he's a regular."

He covered his mouth trying not to laugh. The others started to snicker. We just got the best advantage against our Head Teacher aka 'Goro-chan'. We turned our attention back to Kaoruko when she hit her hand on top of a small envelope that had money in it.

"Ren, what is this about," she demanded.

Ren shifted in his seat, "why did you go into my room?"

"What's up with this money," Kaoruko demanded again ignoring Ren's question, "you've been coming home late."

"It's money I earned at my part-time job," he stated.

Sawatari got up and walked over, "part-time jobs are prohibited at our school!"

Kaoruko stood and bowed to him, "I'm sorry."

Sawatari quickly went soft mumbling something about family circumstances. Kaoruko stated that she would make Ren quit, but Ren argued back saying he need the money to move out.

He leaned back in his chair, "I can't continue to rely on my sister."

"Kazama, what are you saying to Sara-chan...I mean your sister," Sawatari said trying to be the voice of reason in front of Kaoruko.

Ren glared at him, "shut up."

"What's with that language?"

"You got a problem," Ren gave his signature smile, "Goro-chan."

"Kazama... you..."

Ren stood and grabbed Sawatari's jacket. Yankumi and the other teachers separated the two. Sawatari called Ren a punk making Ren even more mad. Ren threw Yankumi off him sending her into the table. She was about to scold him when Kaoruko slammed her hand down.

"Cut it out! Live alone? You can't do anything on your own! Don't make me laugh," she scolded Ren.

Everyone looked at her in shock except me and Ren. As kids, we always saw this side of Kaoruko.

"Sara-chan, were you like that," Sawatari asked hesitantly.

Kaoruko gasped and went back to her sweet self, "I'm sorry. It sort of came out...

========================================================================

That night, instead of hanging out with the guys, I went home. I entered my quiet apartment and closed the door. I was about to lock it when a loud yelp sounded right outside. I opened the door again to see a small puppy running from four young punks. I got really angry because animals, especially small animals, were my number one weak point. I closed and locked my door then ran after the punks. I found them in an alley. They had the puppy trapped and were throwing things at it.

I ran up and kicked two to the ground then punched one into the wall. The last one standing was fast. He dodged my fists and kicks. He pulled a knife from his pocket and began swinging it at me. I dodged. I was getting tired and the other guys were coming around. They stood and along with the fourth, circled me. I braced myself for their attacks, but they did come. A figure suddenly came out of the shadows and took down all four. I half-expected it to be Yamato, but this isn't a movie.

Instead it was a very handsome man. He was tall and slender. His hair was dark and short but not too short. He wore a suit with sparkles and a rose in his front jacket pocket. He walked up to me putting on a smile that made my heart skip a beat.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes," I said weakly then cleared my throat, "I mean I could've taking them."

He chuckled and picked up the puppy, "I'm sure, but that face shouldn't be scratched, let alone scarred."

I felt my throat go dry as he looked me in the eyes, "well either way, do I get to know the name of my... I mean of the puppy's rescuer?"

He laughed again sending chills down my spine, "Takahashi, Akio. You can call me, Akio."

"Glorious hero, interesting," I smiled, "I'm Saitou, Heza. You can call me, Saitou."

"Playing hard to get," he smirked, "alright I'll play," he handed me a card, "this is my card. If you ever find yourself in the neighborhood, you should stop by."

He winked then walked off taking the puppy with him. I looked at the card. It read: Host Club Sweet Castle. No wonder he was dreamy. His job is to make women swoon. I pocketed the card and went home.

-

The next day I could get Akio out of my mind. I didn't pay attention to anything. When I tried, his face would pop into my head. It was annoying yet exciting at the same time. I didn't even notice it was break until Kamyia shook my shoulder.

"Sai-chan, did you hear what we said," he motioned to him and Honjo.

I shook my head, "sorry, I didnt'. Can you repeat what you said?"

"Ren is working at a host club," Honjo practically yelled.

Him, Kamyia, Ichi and Kura started whining about not having girls. After getting there acts together, we decided to go and find out for ourselves if Ren was working at a host club. There was only one problem: we were high schoolers. High schoolers weren't allowed in host clubs.

"Which club does he work at, anyway," Yamato asked making Honjo and Kamyia think.

Kamyia shot up, "it was called Sweet Castle."

I gasped, "really," he nodded, "this might be easier than I thought."

This made the guys look at me in confusion.

========================================================================

Right after school, we went home and changed clothes. The guys looked very casual, but I dressed up a little. I wore a flurry shirt with a tank top that showed my belly. To top it off, I wore three inch heels. We met up at the Shirokun Tunnel. The guys' jaws dropped went they saw me.

"Close them boys. You'll catch flies," I stated like I was wearing anything different than I normally do.

"What are you wearing," Yamato asked... no demanded.

"Does it matter? We need to get going," I said before walking towards Sweet Castle.

When we got there, we tried to sneak in, but I guess I was a little too dressy. Every host we pasted would stop and try to have me request them. It was weird because every time they did, they would look behind me then quickly walk away frighten, but when I looked behind me, I only saw Yamato, who would be looking in a different direction. Despite that, we made our way through the club.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to come," a voice laughed behind me.

I looked to see Akio smiling with two drinks in his hands.

"I didn't think you would show," he said handing me a drink.

I placed the glass down, "I'm here strictly on business."

He smirked, "I like business."

"I'm sure you do."

"Sai-chan?"

I turned to see the guys looking between me and Akio except Yamato. He was glaring at Akio.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, Heza," Kura asked giving Akio a brotherly look along with Ichi.

"This is Takahashi, Akio. He rescued a puppy near my apartment last night," I said trying to avoid what really happened last night.

Not sensing the atmosphere, Akio laughed out loud, "man you sure do love playing hard to get. Look baby..."

Before anyone could blink, Yamato grabbed his collar, "she is no ones baby, especially not your's. Quite being so friendly with her."

"Alright, I won't do it again," Akio slowly removed Yamato's hands, "watch the suit. It's tailor made. See ya around, He...Saitou."

Once Akio was out of sight, I turned to Yamato, "what is your problem?"

He turned his glare to me, "you shouldn't let him be so friendly towards you. You don't know him."

I put my hands on my hips, "who I allow to be friendly towards me is my business, not your's Ogata, Yamato. I don't see why you care anyways."

He turned to the others, "lets find Ren."

Rolling my eyes, I followed the guys to the back of the host club. Unfortunately, a host didn't like a bunch of high schoolers at his host club and began to push us to the front door.

"It's a bit too early for a high schooler to want to become a host," he yelled.

The guys started to argue trying to push past the guy, but failed.

"You guys?!"

We turned to see Yankumi. I froze in shock. Yankumi at a host club? What was the world coming to?

"What are you doing here," she asked.

Before we could answer or make fun at the fact that Yankumi was at a host club, we heard a name that catch our attention.

"Kazama, I'm leaving this here."

Yankumi tilted her head, "Kazama?"

We walked to a doorway that lead to the kitchen. I wanted to laugh at what I saw. Right behind the counter washing dishes was Ren in an apron.

"Kazama!"

"Ren!"

He looked at us in confusion, but it turned to embarrassment, "you guys?!"

The same guy who was pushing us towards the door walked up, "Kazama, do you know these guys?"

"Not really," Ren said trying to cover up the fact that he was a high schooler.

Ren ended up getting fired. As we were leaving, I was pulled aside by Akio.

"Look I know your boyfriend told me not to be friendly with you, but..."

"Oh Yamato's not my boyfriend."

He smiled, "that's good to hear. Means I might still have a chance. Would you like to go get something to eat some time? Then maybe I can get to know you better and won't be grabbed."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. He doesn't usually lose his cool like that, ever actually. I don't know what got into him."

"Well if I was friends with a beautiful princess, I wouldn't want just anyone being friendly with her either."

I smiled and rolled my eyes playfully, "those lame host lines won't help you with me. I don't fall for them."

"Interesting," he mumbled, "so is that a yes or no?"

"Sure, why not."

"Great. I'll meet you at Shirokun park at eight two Tuesdays from now."

"It's a date...I mean..."

"No. This is definitely a date."

I smiled. I waved bye then caught up with the others. We went to our regular hang out as Ren complained.

"Man... I can't believe that I lost that job in only a week."

Ichi put his hands to getting, "sorry Ren, it as our fault."

"It's because you were faking your age while working," Yankumi lectured.

"My dream of being popular with girls," Honjo cried making Ichi, Kura and Kamiya cry with him.

Yamato laughed at them, "you guys..."

Turning my attention away from the whiners, I listened to Yankumi lecture Ren.

"Kazama. You shouldn't worry your sister so much."

Ren brushed her comment off, "it doesn't have anything to do with her."

"Of course it does!"

Ren quickly stood up, "I'm sick of talking about her," after a few seconds of silence, he grabbed his bag, "ja ne."

"Huh? Hey Ren," I called after him.

I was about to go after him, but Yamato stopped me.

"Leave him be for now, besides I need to talk to you."

We walked to the other side of the room so the others wouldn't hear.

Yamato sighed, "I'm sorry I grabbed that guy at the club the way I did. Your right. You can make your own choices, and as your friend, I'll respect them."

I eyed him, "Yankumi's making you say this, isn't she?"

"Whatever. Do you accept my apology or not?"

"I do, and as far as my choices go. I've decided to go on a date with him."

"WHAT... I mean... great, good for you."

-

I walked into class thinking that everything was going to be back to normal, but I was wrong. I didn't even sit down when Isoge ran through the door saying something about Ren being expelled. Not waiting for any details, I ran to the front office running into Kaoruko on the way. She looked like she was about to cry.

"What happened Kaoruko? I heard Ren is going to be expelled."

She nodded, "he is but I was trying to get him to apologize for hitting a cop, but he wouldn't. Then he told me that his life had nothing to do with me so I slapped him."

"Let me guess, he got angry and stormed out," she nodded, "well looks like we need to go look for him. After all, he has a promise he needed to keep."

Kaoruko smiled. We ran out of the school and began our search. We looked everywhere. I was about to get really frustated when I heard Ren's voice.

"Let go!"

We spotted Ren being pulled by three older guys. They dragged him under the overpass where we saved Yamato that one time. They started beating Ren. Kaoruko tried to pull the guys off of Ren, but they just pushed her back. She tried again. This time one of the guys pulled her back and was going to punch her, but I got in the way and took the punch.

"Heza, are you okay," Kaoruko asked as the three started to beat Ren again.

It was about to get really bad, but like always, Yankumi was there to stop it. She got the guys away from Ren and got into her serious mode.

"Who are you," one of the guys demanded.

"I'm his homeroom teacher," she simply said.

"A teacher?"

"You ever hit a girl? You sure are scum," Yankumi nearly yelled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," one said before swinging at Yankumi.

She dodged his fist with ease. She then made two hit the ground. The leader swung, but Yankumi was faster. She stopped her hand from hitting the leader centimeters from his face scaring the shit out of him.

"If you want to get serious, I'll take you on," she yelled.

They ran, "let's get out of here!"

As they ran away, Yamato and the others ran up. They ran to Ren.

"Ren! Are you okay?"

I got up and went to him, "hey. Are you okay? You worried us!"

We carried Ren outside as Kaoruko ran off somewhere. He sat down and the guys knelt down by him.

"What are you doing when you might get expelled," Yamato asked.

"My bad," Ren mumbled.

"Kazama. Let's go back to school. Let's apologize to the chairman, and get her to forgive you," Yankumi said trying to convince him.

Kaoruko came back with a napkin. She began to attend to his cuts.

"Are you okay," she asked gently.

Ren slapped her hand away, "don't make me look bad," he got up and walked off a little, "don't worry about me anymore. I've decided to live on my own."

"What are you talking about, Ren," I asked sternly, "you should be grateful to have Kaoruko. Take it from me who has no one."

"This has nothing to do with you," he yelled before turning to Kaoruko, "don't you think that it'd be better if I was gone?!"

"Stop saying stupid shit," Yankumi shouted getting our attention, "do you think you've been living alone up until now? Your sister raised a punk like you and looked after you until now. She just tried to save you back there, risking herself for you. So did Saitou because she considers you her brother and the only family she has left. Someone who didn't want you around wouldn't have done something like that! Why do you think the cop dropped the fact that you hit him?"

"Huh?"

"Teacher," Kaoruko said trying to make her stop talking, but once Yankumi starts, she keeps talking until her point is made.

"It's because your sister begged him to," Ren's eyes widen a little in realization, "for your sake, she kept bowing and bowing. You've always been protected by your sister like that. Both of them. Listen well, Kazama. Family might be something you take for granted. But it's not. You'll have to go separate ways someday. You understand, don't you? From your experience. From Saitou's. So, till then, no matter how much of a pain or a burden it might be, you've got to support each other! You too, you have to protect your sisters, too."

Ren looked from Yankumi to me to Kaoruko back to Yankumi, "I'm not good enough to do that."

"Yes, you are," I argued, "only you can do it. Like me, you are Kaoruko's only family."

Ren looked at his hand. His eyes showed that he was remembering something. Without a word, Ren took off.

"Kazama!"

"Ren!"

We ran after him. He lead us back to school. We followed him inside. He stopped in front of Sawatari and the chairman. We stopped and watched.

Sawatari stepped up, "what do you want? Expulsion is... something the chairman decided."

Ren bowed his head shocking us. He stood up straight and looked the chairman in the eye.

"For hitting the policeman... and causing trouble to the school... I sincerely regret it. I don't want to quit school," he admitted.

"You committed a grave mistake. Making you take responsibility for that is the school's responsibility," the chairman said making my heart drop.

"I... thought that school didn't matter. But now, now...," Ren took a deep breath, "I really want to graduate. For my sister's sake. Both of them. If I don't straighten out... I can't protect them. Please don't expel me. Please."

Ren bowed his head again. Kaoruko and I followed. The chairman began to walk past Ren but then paused.

"Be grateful to your sister... Both of them," she said before walking away.

"Chairman," Sawatari called making her stop again, "what about Kazama's expulsion..."

"Head teacher Sawatari."

"Hai?"

"We'll let it go this time," she said before walking again.

Ren let tears fall, "thank you!"

As Ren bowed again, Sawatari walked after the chairman. After he left, we cheered.

"Woohoo!"

We all, except Kaourko and Yankumi, circled Ren.

"You were so cool," Honjo said pulling on Ren jacket playfully.

"You're crying," Kura pointed out.

"He is crying," I laughed.

We left the school and began to walk home. I pushed Ren and Kaoruko forward so they could have a moment. They exchanged a few words before Ren pushed Kaoruko.

"Why are you crying?"

"Shut up. I'm not crying," Kaoruko smiled running after Ren.

"You were totally crying," Ren laughed running from Kaoruko.

From watching the sibling exchange, Yankumi sniffed and began to whip her eyes. We couldn't help but make fun of her.

"Hey, are you crying too," Kura laughed, "she is!"

Kamiya pointed at her, "loser!"

"It's just sweat," Yankumi pushed us forward towards the Kazamas, "come on, let's go!"

We ran forward. Ren pulled me to the side.

"I'm sorry that I yelled at you," he held out his pinky, "but I promise we will graduate together."

I smiled and wrapped my pinky around his, "it's a promise."

-

We walked into class, but there was one thing missing. Yamato went back out in the hall and pulled Ren inside. He pushed Ren forward.

"Yo."

One guy stood, "Ren!"

"How did it go?"

"Let's do our best until graduation," Ren gave them his signature smile.

The class cheered as we made our way in the middle of them.

"Alright! Everyone's here, right," Yankumi asked getting our attention, "listen up everyone, let's get pumped up! All 29 of you guys in 3-D, we're going to graduate together! Oh!"

We gave her weird looks as she threw her fist in the air.

"Come on, you guys too! Fight-oh... Oh," she threw her fist up again.

We put our fists up lazily, "oh..."

"You're too soft! Fight-oh... Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Fight-oh... Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Fight-oh... Oh!"

 


	7. Episode Five

**Episode Five**

It was finally here. The day I was going to have my first date, ever. I admit I was excited and nervous, but I wasn't being all girly about it. I kept my cool through school. My heart started beating faster as Yankumi's math lesson came to an end.

"Because today and tomorrow we have parent-teacher conferences in the afternoon, we'll end the lesson here," Yankumi announced.

We cheered.

"What should we do," Honjo asked, "any suggestions Sai-chan?"

I turned to the gang, "sorry, I have a date today."

They all looked at me in shock, except Yamato, "nani?!"

I smiled, "yeah with that guy, Takahashi, Akio, remember?"

"Hey Chiaki, let's go play some darts after lunch," Yamato suggested before the guys could say anything.

That got them off the subject of my date quickly. I narrowed my eyes at Yamato. He avoided my eyes.

Honjo shot up cheering.

"Honjo, Kuraki, Saitou," Yankumi called getting our attention, "your conferences are today, aren't they?"

"Ah, I forgot...," Honjo whined.

"Ain't it just my mom," Kura asked.

"No, it ain't," we groaned, "I told you all, didn't I? This time it's a parent-student-teacher conference. We're going to be focusing on your future. Have you thought about it?"

"Our future is still a long way off," a guy lazily said.

Yankumi nodded, "of course there's no need to decide now. Whether it's college or work, it's not a decision to take lightly. You need to think about it ahead of time."

"I've decided," one of the guys up front called out.

"Huh," Yankumi walked up to him, "is there something that you want to do?"

"I want to be a 'freeter'."

"A freeter can be various things," Yankumi smiled, "first off, what sort of part-time job?"

"Part-time job," he asked confused, "a freeter is a man who can live freely. Right?"

Honjo busted out laughing, "what an idiot! It's to breed dogs."

We turned to him.

Yankumi's smile dropped completely, "Honjo...That's a 'Breeder'."

He rubbed the back of his head laughing at his mistake. We laughed at him and turned back to the front. As soon as class was over, Honjo, Kura and I stood outside the classroom. There were a few others waiting with us. Soon their mothers came to wait too. I sadly watched the others interact with their mothers, and then, walk in and out of the classroom together. I was the last one to be called. I walked in and sat down. I glance over at the empty chair beside me as Yankumi sat down across from me. I looked up at her.

She smiled, "we can talk while we wait for your guardian."

I rolled my eyes, "no one's coming."

Yankumi sighed, "you didn't remember to tell your guardian?"

"No, I don't have a guardian," I stated plainly, "you can write that I haven't decided what I want to do with my life yet."

I got up to leave, but Yankumi stopped me from walking out.

"Saitou, if you ever want to talk, I'll listen."

Holding tears back, I walked out of the classroom then out of the school. I kept walking until I found myself in the park. I went over to a bench and sat. I watched kids playing with their parents thinking about how lucky they were to have each other.

"Heza!"

I turned to see Akio running up to me. He was wear a suit similar to the one he was wearing when I met him. I got up as he stopped in front of me.

"You're here early," he said catching his breath.

"So are you," I laughed.

He looked me up and down.

He raised an eyebrow, "is that what you are wearing?"

"What's wrong with it," I asked looking down at myself.

Akio sighed, "sweetie, when you go out with a host, you dress up, put some make-up on, and do something with," he waved his hands over my head, "this. I have a reputation to keep as man who only dates the most fashionable of women."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he held his hand up to stop me as his phone rang.

"Moshi, moshi," he put his hand down, "no, I'm not doing anything tonight. I'll be right there," he hung up, "I have to go to the club tonight. Maybe we can re-schedule for tomorrow for a lunch date."

"But I have school."

He rolled his eyes, "You can skip. I'm sure you do it all the time because of those 'friends' of yours. Oh, and be sure to doll yourself up. Got a rep to protect."

With that said, he walked off. I looked down at myself again. Maybe Akio had a point. Maybe I should dress up a little more and wear, dare I say it, make-up.

The next morning I got up and went over to Ren's. He had already left for school, but luckily, Kaoruko was still there. I asked her to help me put some make-up on before she left for her day-job. She was a little confused at my request, but then said 'what the hell' and sat me down. She pulled my hair back and began to apply the make-up.

"Can I also borrow one of your outfits," I asked making her freeze.

"What's going on, Heza," she narrowed her eyes at me, "you're not doing this for a boy are you?"

I sighed, "his name is Akio."

Kaoruko tilted her head, "what about Yamato?"

"What about him?"

She started to apply my make-up again, "according to Ren, you like him and he likes you back."

I looked at her with shock, "what, he doesn't like me."

"Ren told me that when you passed out from pain, he carried you, and then didn't want to leave you," she smiled, "if you ask me, it sounds like he likes you."

I rolled my eyes, "if he likes me, it's just as friends."

Kaoruko chuckled, "just think about it, and I know you like him too."

"Whatever."

Once she was done, I put on her light blue outfit. It was short and revealing, but oh well. I finally got to school a couple of hours late. I walked in the classroom through the back door. Yamato and Ren were in the front of the class, along with Kura, Ichi, Kamiya, and Honjo.

"That's the way it is," Yamato announced, "we need your help."

Kura sat a box down on the front desk. It say: Honjo's emergency relief! Big collection box.

"If everyone chips in some, we may be able to make it work," Ren said.

Ichi put his hands together, "please, everyone help to save Honjo."

"Alright! Let's chip in," the class cheered.

They stepped up and emptied their pockets. Knowing I had nothing in my pockets, I just sat back and watched. When everyone's pockets were empty, they sat in a circle. Kura dumped the box. Everyone looked down at the small amount sadly.

"Let's give it a count," Kura said trying to lighten the mood.

"There's no need," Yamato stated upset with the small amount.

"It's nowhere near enough," Kamiya sighed.

"At this rate, he may have to quit school," one guy said making me more confused about what was going on.

Ren stood up, "alright! We have no choice but to work ourselves."

The class nodded.

Yamato stood and stepped forward, "let's do it! 3-D Operation save Honjo with part-time jobs!"

Ren stepped forward, "fight-oh..."

"Oh!"

I got up and walked over to Ichi, "is Honjo in trouble?"

"He may have to quit school," he turned to me then jumped back, "what happened to you, Heza?"

At his sudden action, everyone turned to us. They're eyes widened and looked me up and down. Ren quickly took off his jacket and put it over my shoulders trying to cover me.

"What are you wearing," he said getting in his brother mode, "it looks like something my sister wears to her night job."

"It is something she wears to her night job," I shoved his jacket to him, "it's no big deal."

Kamiya stepped forward, "no big deal..."

He slowly looked behind him. I looked over his shoulder to see Yamato scaring the others with his famous glare. He came over and turned his glare to me.

"You're dressed this way because of Takahashi, right," he growled.

I glared right back, "why? Are you jealous?"

The guys went silent and took a few steps back away from us.

"Why would I be jealous of someone who changes others," he growled.

I got in his face, "maybe because he has someone and you don't, and he's not changing me."

He raised an eyebrow, "have you looked in the mirror lately?"

"A girl trys a new look and the first thing you think is that her boyfriend is the reason," I argued back.

He shook his head and turned to the others, who were all the way across the room, "well, we know what Heza's job will be."

Without another word, he left. I went after him.

"Hey, wait a sec," I called.

He stopped and turned to me, "what now?"

I stopped in front of him, "why do you care if I change my look?"

He sighed, "I think you should be with someone who won't change you. I think you need someone who will like you for you."

I crossed my arms, "like who?"

"Well...," he rubbed the back of his head.

When he didn't answer, I rolled my eyes and left to find a part-time to help Honjo. I looked all over, but nobody wanted a high schooler working for them. I was about to go to the next place when someone called my name.

"Heza!"

I turned and saw Akio walking up to me with a huge smile. He looked me up and down then whistled.

"Lookin' good."

Not in the mood for compliments, I just rolled my eyes. Not sensing my mood, he continued.

"Seriously, you should dress like this everyday," he looked at the store I was about to go in to, "what are you doing here?"

"Looking for a part-time job."

"Why?"

"Honjo needs the money."

He sighed, "one of those boys you hang out with," I nodded, "okay, you win."

He took out his cellphone and made a call. I didn't really follow the conversation.

He hung up, "alright. A friend of mine is going to help...um.."

"Honjo."

"Yes, Honjo," he smiled really big, "now, can I take this pretty lady out for dinner?"

I smiled, "sure."

He put his arm out for me to grab. I wrapped my arm around his, and he took me to dinner. After a wonderful night out, Akio walked me back to my apartment. We said good-bye and he left.

I awoke to the sound of my phone. I groaned and answered it.

"Hello."

"Hey," Yamato called on the other end, "get up. We're coming to get you."

"What? Why?"

"Because Honjo needs our help," he said, "he borrowed some money from a guy, and we think he's going to return it. We can't let him go alone."

"Well, I have plans to go to breakfast with Akio."

He sighed, "really! You're going to abandon your friend for some guy."

I sat up more awake than I was, "I'm not abandoning anyone."

"Sure. You know what, do what you want," he hung up.

I hung up and growled. After getting dressed, I met Akio at his host club.

"Hey," he greeted, "ready to go."

I sighed, "yeah."

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"Well, instead of helping my friends, I chose to come here, and Yamato got really mad."

He smiled slightly, "don't worry. I'm sure their going to be taken care of."

I turned to him, "what do you mean?"

"Well remember that friend I called," I nodded, "he said he would take very good care of your friends."

I felt my anger build inside me, "What did you do?"

He put his hand on my shoulder, "I made sure that they would get what's coming to them."

I shoved his shoulder off and grabbed him by the collar, "where are they?"

After he gave me directions to his friends hideout, I dropped him. He fell to the ground. As I started to walk away, he called after me.

"Heza. Come on baby, they just a bunch of delinquents especially that Yamato guy."

I stopped and turned to him, "those delinquents are my best friends, and Yamato is ten times the man you will ever be. Oh and one more thing, I'm not your baby."

I left him and quickly made my way to his friend's hideout. I finally got there and heard shouting.

"You borrowed 500,000 yen."

I entered the warehouse to see Honjo run up to some guy behind a desk. A bunch of guys surrounded my friends when they tried to leave.

"I can't let you do that," the guy said standing up, "I made a deal with man, who wants a certain group of delinquents to disappear."

"Who would that be," I called getting their attention.

The guys looked at me in shock as the guy smirked.

"Well well well, what do we have here," he stepped towards me.

Yamato pushed him back, "get away from her."

That started a chain reaction. The next thing I knew the guys were pinned down, and a guy held my arms behind my back. The leader dragged Honjo away from the others and began to beat him up.

"Honjo! Honjo!"

I started to cry, "stop it!"

The leader picked up a pipe as his thugs held Honjo up. He was about to hit him with the pipe when a voice stopped him.

"Don't touch him again!"

We looked at the entrance to see Yankumi.

"A high schooler isn't really a fair opponent for you, is it," she lectured.

The thugs stepped forward, "who the hell are you?"

She got in her serious mode, "me? I'm those kid's home room teacher."

"A teacher," they laughed.

"I'd like you to return my students," she said slowly walking towards them.

"Unfortunately, this is my work," the leader said.

Yankumi tilted her head, "work?"

He pointed his pipe at Honjo, "I lent him money, but he tried to cancel it by returning only 50,000 yen."

"Honjo. You..."

"I lent him 500,000 yen."

"That's wrong," Honjo cried out, "I only borrowed 50,000 yen!"

"And it was all a trap to beat the guys up," I shouted before the guy holding me covered my mouth.

Yankumi glared at the leader, "it's dirty to prey on people in trouble to make money just so you can beat up him and his friends, isn't it?"

"What was that," the leader growled.

"You can't call what you do work," she stated.

"Shut up!"

The leader nodded his head and his thugs walked up to Yankumi. She started to dodge the thugs punches with ease.

"It's because of guys like you that an increasing number of kids don't understand the value of money and real labor," she yelled.

"Get her."

As the thugs tried to hit Yankumi, I broke free and ran to help Honjo.

"Are you alright?"

When I looked up, the leader was the only one left.

"You still want to continue," Yankumi asked dangerously, "if it's to protect my precious students...I won't hold back."

"Don't take me lightly," the leader yelled before attacking Yankumi.

Yankumi stopped his attack then knocked him out. We followed Yankumi to the nearby park. Yamato was the only one who didn't talk to me the whole time. We sat down in the park.

"You guys...," Yankumi smiled, "all you do is reckless stuff."

"But...," Honjo sniffed, "if I didn't return that money, I wouldn't be able to face my dad."

"I see."

Yankumi's phone went off. As she answered the call, I turned to the guys.

"I'm really sorry," I stood up and bowed to them, "really sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Ren mumbled.

I stood up straight, "but if it wasn't for me..."

"We don't blame you," Yamato said leaving no room for argument.

I sighed still feeling bad when Yankumi turned to us.

"Honjo. Your dad's escaped from the hospital."

"Huh," Honjo stood up and thought for a minute, "the shop!"

He took off. We ran after him. He led us to his father's shop. We saw his dad working. Honjo went up to him.

Dad! What are you doing?"

His dad looked up, "oh, Kengo. Ah sensei."

"Please don't do this, sneaking out of the hospital..."

Honjo's dad interrupted Yankumi's plead, "but I have to since I can't leave the hospital yet."

"Of course not! You aren't better yet," Honjo yelled.

"Give it a rest," he told Honjo, "I feel bad for the customers, keeping the shop closed for so long. Business isn't something for you. It's something for customers. I've worked believing that."

I stood there watching Mr. Honjo work as the rest of the class ran up to us.

"We heard that Honjo's dad disappeared. We were worried."

"Everyone, take a good look at Honjo's dad," Yankumi said, "this is what work is. It's something you do with painstaking effort and responsibility. It's because of this that money has value."

Honjo wiped his tears away then went up to his dad. He told his dad that he used some of his money. He apologized saying he would work to repay it.

"Come on. Don't just stand there. Help out," his dad pointed to some buckets, "wash those buckets. Wash them well."

As Honjo went over to the buckets, Yamato, Ren and I ran up to Honjo's dad.

"We'll help too," I smiled, "this needs to be washed, right?"

"Oh, thanks. Kengo, bring those molds."

We washed the buckets as Honjo begged his dad to go back to the hospital when the tofu is made. His dad gave in which made me smile bigger.

Yankumi turned to the rest of the class, "alright guys, shall we do this?"

"Oh!"

For the rest of the day, we helped Honjo's dad sell all of his tofu. At one point the head teacher showed up and ran Yankumi off. It was hilarious. When every tofu was sold, Honjo's dad went back to the hospital. Yamato said he would walk me home. When we got to my building, I turned to him.

"I'm really sorry for everything, and you were right. He was trying to change me, and I'm going to do what you said."

"And what's that?"

"I'm going to find someone who will like me for me," I smiled, "well good-night, Yamato."

"Good-night."

 


	8. Episode Six

**Episode Six**

****

It's been a couple of days since the night Yamato walked me home, and ever since, I started to feel weird. Like if what Kaoruko said, about me liking Yamato, was true. My heart would start beating faster when I'm around him, and my face burns up went he looks at me. Maybe I do like him...no, there is no maybe. I do 100% like Ogata, Yamato. Now if only I had the courage to tell him.

"Big announcement," Kamiya called from the front of the class pulling me out of my thoughts, "I've got a hook-up party," I rolled my eyes as the class cheered, "don't be shocked when hear this. This time there's 4 groups. Everyone here right now will be able to take part!"

I felt my heart drop a little as the cheering grew louder. What if Yamato went and he fell for one of those preppy girls?

"You did it, Kamiya," Ren cheered as he stood on his desk.

"Nice going," Ichi cheered in my ear, "hook-up party ring leader."

Honjo nodded in agreement, "the girls! Who are the girl?!"

"First up, Momo girls," he placed a paper with a drawing of the girls on it on the board, "then Elize Girls school, Seijun Girls High, finally, Grace Music school."

The guys ran to the front to pick their groups.

"Hey, hey, hey! Yamato," Honjo called, "which one will you join?"

"Um...I'll pass," he said sitting away from them.

Even though I was just sitting in my desk looking bored, on the inside I was jumping up and down like a little school girl, but that went away once Ren jumped in front of him.

"I see! Well now, are you afraid of getting embarrassed if you're less popular than me," he asked messing with Yamato's hair.

I wanted to beat Ren's ass. Preying on Yamato's ego.

"What! I'm less popular? That's impossible," Yamato growled.

Ren smiled, "then...let's have a battle at the party!"

"Sure, why not," my heart completely dropped, "I'll show you."

"I'm getting fired up," Honjo yelled.

"Alright! Let's put more spirit into it," Yamato cheered.

"Oh!"

"Let's get some girlfriends," Ren yelled making me want to crawl in a hole and die.

"Oh!"

"Kura, Kura," Ichi called, "what about you?"

I turned to see Kura was still in his desk, which was very strange. Kura, usually, would be the first one to be in a group.

"What," Kura waved his hand, "ah, I'll pass."

This shock everyone, even me. Kura never missed a chance to go to a hook-up party. The guys ran to him and circled his seat.

"Hey! What's wrong, Kura," Kamiya yelled.

Ren put his hand on Kura's forehead, "do you have a fever or something?"

Kura removed his hand, "I'm not sick"

"Ohayou," Yankumi called entering the classroom.

The guys went silent and cautiously turned to her.

"What's everyone all worked up for," she asked.

"It's nothing," Yamato answered for us.

"You don't have to hide it," she laughed.

"It's pointless to tell you," Kamiya stated, "since it's about love."

That only made her more interested.

"It wouldn't be 'pointless.' Don't hesitate to ask me anything about love. C'mon, don't hold back."

Ichi raised his hand, "by the way..."

"Yes, what is it, Ichimura-kun?"

"Yankumi, do you have a man?"

Yankumi went silent. I silently laughed to myself already knowing the answer. There was no way she had a man.

She gave a small chuckle, "we're having a pop quiz."

We groaned.

"Okay, please take your seats!"

As everyone took their seats, I watched Kura. He was smiling really goofy.

"Something's up with Kura," Yamato whispered to me and Ren.

After school we got the gang together and followed Kura. It was getting really weird. At one point, he started skipping. We hid in some boxes that were laying on the side of the road. He looked at his cellphone then started running. We rose from our hiding place after he pasted. We looked like a cosplay fail photo.

"Where's he going," Yamato asked.

"Dunno..."

"Let's go after him."

We started to move with our boxes, but Kamiya fell over. Kura stopped and turned to us, but luckly, we hid before he could see us. He ran off, and we followed. He lead us to the hospital. We hid behind a cardboard person as he went up to a girl. We peaked around and smiled.

"I see," Yamato laughed, "so it was this."

"That Kura didn't even say a word to me," Ichi said shaking Yamato in joy.

"That's why he hasn't been around with us lately," Honjo stated.

"Damn. She cute too," Ren whined.

"But what are they talking about," Kamiya wondered.

Like idiots, the guys started walking forward to hear but tripped over each others feet and fell, leaving me standing.

Kura pointed at us in shock, "hey! What are you guys doing?!"

We did our secret wave, "hello."

After the guys got up, we were introduced to Kura's girlfriend. Her name was Saki, and she was admitted in the hospital for 2 weeks.

"What are you sick with," Honjo asked like an idiot.

We all hit him on the head, "baka! How can you ask that?!"

"It's nothing serious," Saki-chan smiled.

"How did you meet him," Yamato asked.

We got closer waiting for the answer. Saki-chan turned to Kura. He smiled.

"Well, actually it was when I had a cold last week," he explained, "at that moment, an angel swooped down right in front of me."

"A fateful encounter," I asked laughing.

"It's not like you at all," Ren pointed out.

"Shut up!"

As the guys goofed around, Saki-chan turned to me.

"Are one of these guys your boyfriend?"

I looked at Yamato, "not exactly."

She followed my line of sight, "I see," she turned to the guys, "I see you're good friends."

Kura laughed, "good friends? It's more like dorks just messing around."

"Must be nice..," Saki-chan looked down sadly, "I want to go out, too."

"Is that so? I can take you out any time," Kura said.

"Really," Kura nodded, "ah! I have to head back because my dad's coming."

Kura looked at the time, "oh. That's right. See you tomorrow. Bye bye."

She waved and left.

"Kawaii..."

"She's definitely a cutie, isn't she?"

The guys nodded. Then we jumped back from the person who popped up beside us.

"Don't just pop up like that," Yamato told Yankumi.

She smiled at Kura, "you rascal! Well done Kuraki! Was that your girlfriend?"

"No, it wasn't."

She nudged him, "yeah, right."

She laughed until a doctor called her name. Suddenly she began to fumble over herself and that only meant one thing. This guy was Yankumi's crush. We watched as she embarrassed herself. It was hilarious. When he told her that he liked her in her jersey, her face was priceless. I bet she went home that night and tried on every jersey she had in her closet.

The next day was the night of the hook-up party. Kamiya asked me to help them get the girls. I agreed, but under one condition. They had wear exactly what I tell them to wear. Tonight was going to be fun. The time for the hook-up party came quickly. My guys were grouped up with the Momo girls.

"Alright boys, here you go," I gave them their clothes.

They looked at them in disgust. I laughed.

"You're kidding, right," Honjo asked.

I shook my head, "no, now go get dressed so I can fix your hair."

They left. When the came back, I want to laugh my ass off, except when Yamato came out. He looked so cute! Why did my plan have to fail?! I fixed their hair, and gave Ren and Yamato fake glasses. I hoped it would make him look nerdy and ugly, but he looked cuter.

"Are you alright, Sai-chan," Kamiya asked, "you look like you want to cry."

"I'm fine," I took a deep breath, "alright, in you go."

Not able to watch, I stepped out for some fresh air. On the way, I past a couple of drunk guys from another school. They were probably going to their own hook-up party, so I ignored them. Once I was outside, I sat down on a bench in front of the building. I wasn't sitting for long when my phone started buzzing. I took out my phone to see it was a call from Yankumi.

"Moshi moshi."

"Saitou-chan, I got a call from the hospital. Kuraki took Saki-chan out and her chest started hurting."

"Is she alright?"

"I don't know. I'll meet you at the hospital."

"Okay, ja ne."

I ran back in the building. I bumped into the drunk guys only they didn't look drunk. They looked scared. I ignored them again and kept running. The guys were standing outside their room looking sad.

"Guys, we need to get to the hospital," I panted.

This alerted the guys.

"What's wrong," they asked at the same time.

"Kura took Saki-chan out, and she got hurt. Come on."

After the guys quickly changed back into their normal clothes, we ran to the hospital. Yankumi was waiting for us. She lead us to Saki's room, where Kura and the doctor from yesterday, Natsume, were standing outside in the hall. We ran to them.

"Kura!"

"What do you thing you're doing," Yankumi asked Kura, "taking a sick person out like that?!"

"It's okay," Natsume reassured her, "she's just fatigued since she hasn't been out in a while. I think that's why she was experiencing painful heart palpitations and breathing."

"Um...About Saki-chan's condition...," Kura hesitated.

"She has heart disease," Natsume said sadly.

I could tell everyone's heart dropped hearing that, especially Kura's. The door opened and a couple walked out. I assumed it was Saki-chan's parents. Yankumi walked up to them.

"Excuse me," they looked at her, "I'm Kuraki's home room teacher, Yamaguchi. I'm truly sorry that this happened."

Kura stepped forward, "I'm sorry. I...I..."

Saki's father grabbed Kura and shoved him into the wall, "you! What are you trying to do? Do you know what you've done?"

Natsume pulled the man off Kura, "Fujimura-san."

Kura looked like he wanted to cry right then and there. Fujimura called the school. Yankumi told us to go home while she went to the school with Kura and Fujimura, but we went anyway. We listened to the adults through the office door.

"I truly apologize for this," Sawatari said.

"What on earth are you teaching here at this school," Fujimura demanded, "it's too late after something happens! I hear that this school has a bunch of uncontrollable students. Certainly...You can just tell that they're that way. I won't get the police involved since my daughter said not to. However, I have faith that your school will properly punish him."

"Yes, of course," Sawatari said.

Hearing enough, we barged in the office.

"Hey, hey, hey! What are you saying," Ren demanded.

"Kura isn't the bad one here," Ichi said.

"She was the one that called Kura out," I explained.

"Stop," Yankumi pleaded.

Honjo shook his head, "we can't be quiet about this!"

"How can we accept this," Kamiya added.

"It's fine, guys," Kura said trying to calm us down.

Fujimura turned to us, "I'm amazed that your friends are the same way."

"As a school, we'll properly punish him concerning this incident," Sawatari bowed.

"Please do so."

Yamato stepped forward, "but Kura did it for her!"

"For my daughter? If you care for my daughter...," Fujimura turned to Kura, "don't ever see her again."

Kura looked up at him sadly. Fujimura grabbed his stuff, walked by us and left. We left a few minutes later. I went on home. I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. All I could see when I closed my eyes was Kura's sad face when he was told to never see Saki-chan again. I kept thinking about if I was told never to see Yamato again, how I would feel and how Kura must be feeling right now.

It was a sad day for us. Kura didn't come to school. We just looked at his empty desk. I wanted to go out and find him, but Yankumi said that we need to give him some time. She said she would go after school and talk to him. It was hard, but we waited for the bell to ring. We went to our usual place and waited. After a few hours, Kura walked through the door. We greeted him, but he didn't say anything. He sadly walked to the bar and sat down. We went over to him.

"Hey, Kura. We've been worried," Ichi patted his back.

Honjo playfully shaked him, "because you haven't been at school."

"Where have you been," Ren nudged him.

Kura still didn't say anything. I sighed when his phone started ringing. He looked at the screen then hesitantly answered it.

"I told you to not call me anymore!"

This got our attention. He hung up.

"Hey, Kura. What's wrong," Kamiya asked.

"Saki-chan...," he started, "snuck out of the hospital again."

"What?"

"She said she wants to apologize to me so she's waiting at the park."

With that said, Kura got up and ran out.

"Kura!"

"This is bad. What should we do," Honjo turned to our two leaders.

"Contact Yamaguchi," Yamato said.

We all ran out to find Kura as Yamato called Yankumi. We ran to the park. I looked around, but Kura and Saki-chan wasn't anywhere. We stopped in front of Yankumi.

"Where's Kuraki?"

We panted and shrugged out shoulders.

"Look," Yamato called picking something off the ground, "this is Kura's."

"Let's find him," Yankumi turned to me, "Saitou, go to the hospital and get Saki-chan's father. We'll call you when we find them."

I nodded and turned to Yamato, "be careful."

He nodded as the guys whooed.

"Shut up," he barked.

I ran to the hospital as they ran the other way. I found Fujimura.

"You need to come with me," I panted.

"You're one of those kids from yesterday," he growled.

"We don't have time for this. Saki-chan is in danger. You need to come with me."

He hesitated a little, but then nodded. After a quick call from Ren, I lead Fujimura to an old warehouse on the other side of town. We ran to see Yankumi in her serious mode standing over a couple of thugs. I ran over to the guys as Fujimura stood there and watched. I noticed Kura's protective position in front of Saki-chan and hoped her father was seeing it too.

The leader of the thugs glared at Yankumi, "damn you..."

She glared back, "you guys probably have no idea what's going through his mind while fighting, huh? I will not allow you to crush his desire to protect someone important to him."

When she said that, I would've swore I felt a pair of eyes on me, but I shook it off and watched Yankumi.

"I won't go easy on you," she yelled.

"Shut up," the leader attacked but in vain.

The thugs got up and ran for their lives. I couldn't blame them. We ran over to Kura.

"Kura! Kura!"

Kura ignored us and turned to Saki-chan, "are you alright?"

She nodded, "I'm sorry. I...just desperately wanted to apologize to you."

"Are you stupid," he asked, "you should be worrying about yourself not me," Kura looked up at us, "I'm really uncool, huh."

Yankumi stepped forward, "no, you're not. You fought with those guys by yourself to protect your girlfriend. That was a very cool thing to do."

Kura looked at Saki-chan. I smiled at the couple, but it dropped when Fujimura stepped forward.

"Saki..."

"Father! Father, Kuraki-kun wasn't bad," Saki-chan said defending Kura, "everyday has been fun since I met Kuraki-kun. I thought it's nice to have a friend. I've started thinking that I want to get well soon and go back to school again."

Yankumi decided then to step forward, "he's still immature, and he makes mistakes. But he really knows how to love people. That's what I think. Please, I beg you, please don't judge only from appearance and words. Please see Kuraki as a person," she bowed, "please, I beg you."

Fujimura walked up to Kura, "so, you protected Saki risking yourself," he handed Kura his handkerchief, "thank you."

Kura slowly took it and blowed a little. Saki smiled and hugs her father. We all smiled.

The next day class 3-D stood outside the bus station. We were saying good-bye to Saki-chan.

"How come she's suddenly going to Fukuoka," Kamiya wondered.

"Her father's being transferred," Ichi replied.

"She's continuing treatment at another hospital," Ren added.

Honjo sighed, "just when Kura was spared a punishment."

Saki-chan's parents got on the bus, but she stayed. Yankumi pushed Kura towards her. He slowly walked up to Saki-chan.

"I might be attending school again around summer," Saki-chan said trying to lighten the mood.

"Really?"

"Yeah," she smiled, "will you take me out again when I'm all better?"

Kura nodded with a smile, "sure, anywhere you want."

"See ya."

As Saki-chan got on the bus, Kura called out to her, "do your best!"

The bus took off. Kura yelled bye after it. We ran up to him.

"Don't cry Kura," I nudged him.

He sniffed, "I'm not crying."

"Damn! That was so sweet," Honjo yelled.

"Now I want a girlfriend too," Ichi yelled shaking Ren.

"Crap," Ren barked, "why can't I get a girlfriend!"

Everyone laughed. We started talking among ourselves when Kamiya pointed to something behind us. We looked to see Yankumi and Natsume smiling at each other. We whooed and got their attention.

"Hey, don't show off," Yamato laughed.

Ren held his fingers up like a picture frame, "it's finally Spring for Yankumi?"

"You guys," she ran at us, "how can you say that to your teacher?!"

We ran away laughing with her right on our tail. I was almost out of breath when I was pulled behind one of the pillars of the bus station. I turned to see Yamato. I tried to keep my heart-beat down.

"Na...," I cleared my throat, "nani?"

"You know watching Kura protect Saki-chan today made me want to protect my important person too," he said trying to stay cool.

I looked down, "so you met someone at the hook-up party?"

"No," I looked at him, "I technically met her on the roof of our school."

My eyes widened, "you mean...," I pointed to myself.

He smiled and nodded, "Saitou, Heza, will you be my girlfriend?"

I couldn't say anything so I slowly nodded. He smiled bigger and hugged me. I wanted to stay like that forever, but of course, class 3-D had to ruin the moment.

"Whoo!"

We broke apart.

"Who's showing off now," Ren laughed.

Yamato laughed, "shut up."

That night he walked me home, but it wasn't like before. This time he held my hand and kiss me on the cheek when he said good-night.

 


	9. Episode Seven

**Episode Seven**

I was so happy. The happiest I've ever been. I was with the guy of my dreams. He would walk me home every night, and we would talk on the phone and text way after mid-night. I would feel the real Yamato come out when we were together. He never turned his tough guy act on me. It was funny when we officially announced our relationship to the rest of the class. All the guys, even our crew, cheer almost as if they saw our relationship coming. They even put my desk to the right of Yamato's. Yankumi, on the other hand, was dazed. First she started wondering when the idea of me and Yamato being together began, then she started wondering how I could be with my destined guy and she couldn't. Since I was in a wonderful mood at the time, I let it slide.

Today, I was sitting in class talking to Yamato. He had his chair and whole body turned to me so he could only focus on me and not the snickering idiots behind him. We were talking about anything and everything, when Yankumi walked in carrying a poster. She placed it on the board. It was a poster for the Akadou festival. Wait...our school has a festival?

"Finally, the Akadou festival will be held this week," she announced then cheered, "yay! Yay," she waved at us to join her, "c'mon, you guys, too! Yay," we silently watched her until she calmed down, "class, what do you wanna do? You have to decide today. What does everyone want to do? Go ahead and speak up," everyone looked around bored by the idea, "at least be somewhat excited. Anything's fine. Try remembering things from your 1st and 2nd year."

"I don't remember anything," I whispered to Yamato, "do you?"

He just shrugged leaning back in his chair.

Honjo spoke up, "we have the school festival every year?"

"I don't remember."

"Yeah, I dunno."

Yankumi's spirit about the festival dropped just a bit, "you guys cut class and didn't participate in the festival?"

"No, no. I don't remember cutting...either," Kura laughed.

Yankumi gave a dramatic sigh, "the school festival is an impressive event that's representative of your memories of high school!"

Yamato stretched and looked at her, "we don't need memories," he glanced at me then whispered, "unless they really matter."

I dropped my head to keep him from seeing my blush. I could feel him smiling at me.

"What are you saying," Yankumi stepped forward, "don't you guys have at least one or two memories that you hold dear from this school?"

"Nothin' special," Ren said sounding bored by the subject.

"Nope."

"Not really."

The other agreed, "none."

"What about you Saitou," I lifted my head, "isn't your new relationship with Ogata a memory?"

Everyone turned to me.

I laughed, "that was because of the school?"

Everyone laughed shaking their heads saying that me and Yamato got together without the school's help.

"You guys are really pitiful."

"Huh?"

"But don't worry," Yankumi gave a dramatic pose, "you still have time until graduation. With this school festival, I shall show you how important it is to make memories with everyone."

"Sorry, but I don't wanna bother with that," Ichi said.

Kura nodded, "we're sorta busy."

"We're all guys, you know," Honjo said making me and Yamato send a glare his way, "I mean besides Sai-chan."

Kamiya snapped his fingers, "right! We want memories of falling in love like these two."

I blushed at the comment. Yamato started scratching the back of his head.

A guy agreed with Kamiya, "but there's no girls...," I glared at him, "no available girls around."

Yamato hit his desk getting the guys attention, "but aren't girls coming to the school festival?"

The guys quickly looked at him with interest.

Ren pointed at him, "that's right! That means girls will be coming as guests!"

Yankumi spoke up, "right! They'll be coming in mobs!"

Kamiya shot up, "I'll participate!"

The rest of the class rose from their seats, "me too!"

Yankumi smiled and turned to Yamato, "Ogata, nice follow-up!"

I laughed as he gave her a thumb's up.

"Alright, guys," the guys sat back down, "what do you want to do?"

"A maze," Ichi suggested.

"Troublesome..," Kamiya groaned.

"A planetarium," Kura yelled out.

"You can't hit on girls in the dark," Honjo argued.

"How 'bout a coffee shop," one of the others suggested.

"If it's just a coffee shop, you won't be able to capture girls' hearts," Yamato pointed out.

They groaned.

I laughed, "I'd listen to Yamato's advice guys because out of everyone in here, he is the only one with a girlfriend."

Yamato gave me a secret smile.

Ren stood up, "wait up! Wait up! We should tack something on that girls like to the coffee shop."

Yankumi smiled, "good idea!"

"Like...Comedy Cafe."

"Dance Cafe."

"Hunk Cafe."

Yankumi raised her hand, "fundoshi cafe!"

Everyone froze, "fundoshi?!"

"A man reminds you of a fundoshi, and a fundoshi reminds you of a man. It's a sure hit," no one said anything, "huh? What do you think, Saitou," I covered my face trying not to think of Yamato in a fundoshi, "not interested?"

"Who would be," Yamato asked.

I lifted my head, "how about you guys think of something appealing about yourselves?"

Everyone nodded and started thinking.

One guy raised his hand, "well, I'm good at fighting."

I rolled my eyes, "you can't sell that..."

"Being stupid," another guy yelled out.

I groaned, "that's not appealing..."

Kura jumped up, "how about our hotness factor?"

"Hotness," I looked at Yamato, "they have that factor?"

He laughed.

Ren shot up, "yeah! That's it!"

The guys agreed, "yeah!"

Kamiya stood, "alright! How does the name "Hottie Cafe" sound?"

"That's awesome," Kura said, "it totally fits us!"

The guys cheered in agreement, "totally!"

Yamato looked at Kamiya, "for real?"

"It's in bad taste to call yourselves that," Yankumi lectured, but they ignored her.

"Aren't you all excited," Honjo called out.

Ichi clapped his hands together, "alright! We've decided on "Hottie Cafe"!"

"Yeah!"

"Let's go," Ren started chanting, "hot ramen soup!"

"We're hot!"

"Hot ramen soup!"

"We're hot!"

"Hot ramen soup!"

"We're hot!"

I sank down in my chair in embarrassment as he continued chanting. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the boy I claim as my brother. I looked over at Yamato. He was laughing in amusment at the whole situation. Despite the loud chants, I could still hear Yankumi.

"You know...you aren't that "hot"."

After calming everyone down, the guys practiced for the festival. I, of course, sat out with Yamato, who claimed to be bored with the whole idea. It was funny to watch because their practice customer was Yankumi.

She opened the door.

The greeting group didn't even look at her and spoke in a bored tone, "welcome..."

Kamiya walked up to her, "for 1. Miss?"

She nodded, "hai."

"I see," he pointed to the space behind him, "well, please sit anywhere over there."

"Eh?"

Yankumi walked over to the two desks we put together to make a table and sat down. Honjo's group, the waiters, walked up to her.

"Hm...I'm sorta thirsty."

Honjo slammed the menu down, "what do you want?"

She looked at the menu, "let's see... Iced coffee please."

Honjo snatched the menu from her, "iced coffee please."

The group in charge of making the food and drinks responded boredly.

Yankumi clapped her hands, "stop. You're not in role at all. Do you really want to do this?"

"There's no ambiance," Kamiya whined.

"We can't really get into it with you as a customer," Honjo pointed out.

Yankumi glared at him, "geez, even when I'm going to the trouble of practicing with you..."

Everyone ignored her.

"And besides," Kamiya added, "Yamato won't let us practice with Sai-chan as a customer."

"Like I'm going to let you guys flirt with my girl," Yamato growled.

I chuckled at his posessiveness.

"Oh," Ren stood up and smiled, "I have a good idea."

Ren had Yankumi call down Aoi-sensei and Sakura-san so they could be the customers. Yankumi called them then sat down beside me and Yamato to see how the guys would treat them. The door opened.

The welcome group bowed respectfully, "welcome! How many guest will it be?"

"Two please."

The group went into host mode, "table for two please!"

The waiter bowed as the two made their way to the table, "welcome to the Hottie Cafe."

"Wow. It looks like they can do this," Yankumi said in surprise.

The guys pulled out their seats, "please. Have a seat."

The women sat down, "thank you."

Honjo knelt down, "pardon me," he slid the menu to them, "this is the menu."

They smiled, "all of you waiters are so nice."

"No...not really."

"What's this? They're totally different from earlier," Yankumi said getting irritated.

I felt my chair move away from Yankumi. I looked down to see Yamato's hand pulling my chair. I silently laughed.

"Move, move, move," Kura called getting the guys out of the way as he carried a tray to the table, "sorry to keep you waiting. This is 3-D's Hottie Parfait Special."

"But we haven't yet ordered."

"Don't worry. This is a free service offered only to beautiful customers."

"Thank you."

"Kawaii!"

Yankumi slammed her hand down and stood, "okay. Stop! We can't make money this way. Please start it from the top again."

"What?"

"What do you mean "what"? C'mon, from the top."

Yamato and I laughed as the guys reluctantly started from the beginning. After school, I walked up to Yamato.

"Ready to go."

He nodded. We were about to leave when Ren popped out of no where.

"Sorry Heza, but we need to borrow Yamato tonight," Ren said pulling on Yamato's jacket.

Yamato shook him off, "for what?"

"Um...," Ren looked at me then at Yamato, "it's a secret."

I raised my eyebrow, "what is this secret?"

Ren scratched the back of his head, "well, if I told you that, it wouldn't be a secret."

Yamato sighed, "whatever, just let me walk Heza home, okay?"

Ren smiled, "okay. You two love birds have fun, but Yamato meet us downtown when you're done."

When Ren left, Yamato grabbed my hand, "let's go."

I nodded. We walked laughing as we thought about Yankumi's face when the guys treated Aoi-sensei and Sakura-san better than her. When we got to my apartment, we turned to each other.

"Don't let them get you into trouble," I laughed.

He smiled, "don't worry. I'm sure it's something stupid anyway," he kissed me on the cheek, "good-night."

I kissed him on the cheek, "good-night. Have sweet dreams Yamato."

"Only if you do the same."

After a few more minutes of just say good-night, I walked into my apartment and went to bed.

The next day I woke up to a text from Honjo.

Sai-chan,

Do you know anything about a Goda who graduated a few years back?

Honjo.

I texted back.

A little but not much. Why?

Heza

I got up and started to get dressed when he texted back.

We got into some trouble with him and his gang after we left the Maid Cafe last night.

Honjo

I re-read the text. They took Yamato to a maid cafe then got him in trouble. I felt my anger reach it's limit. I stormed to the school and went to the classroom. Everyone was decorating for the festival, but when they saw me, they froze. I went right up to Ren, grabbed his ear and dragged him out into the hallway.

"Ow," he cried, "Heza, let go of my ear. What's wrong?"

I let him go and faced him. He saw my glare and whimpered backing up some.

"You took Yamato to a Maid Cafe," I yelled at him, "then you got him in trouble with Goda and his gang?"

"Um...who told you about that?"

"I doesn't matter who," I screamed making him jump back, "is it true?"

He quickly nodded knowing the trouble he would be in if he lied to me.

"Kazama, Ren!"

He screamed.

"What's going on out here," Yamato asked coming out in the hall.

Ren quickly ran behind him, "she's going to kill me."

Yamato looked at Ren then me. I guess he pieced it together of why I was so mad because he took my hands and told Ren to go back in the classroom. After Ren ran back inside, he started to talk.

"I'm sorry. I should've told you about our run-in with Goda. You don't have to kill Ren because we got into a little trouble."

"That's not why I'm going to kill him," he tilted his head, "I'm going to kill him and the others for taking you to a Maid Cafe," he started laughing, "don't you laugh Ogata, Yamato. I'm serious. I'll..."

He pulled me into a hug, "that's what you're upset about? You should know that there is no other girl I would look at besides you. I mean I didn't when we weren't going out. Why would I do it when we are going out?"

"You mean..."

"This whole time I have only had eyes for you, and I always will," he kissed me on the forehead, "let's go back in and help out."

I smiled, "okay."

When we walked in, Honjo ran up to me.

"Sai-chan, didn't you say you knew a little about Goda."

"Hai."

"Wait," Ren called out, "it was you. You told Heza about last night."

"I thought she might have information about Goda," Honjo said not piecing together the situation.

"It's alright Ren. Yamato calmed me down," Ren sighed in relief, "now as for Goda, I know only that he was the head of all the surrounding schools.

The guys froze

"Goda," Akatsuki-kun asked after Ichi explained what happened to the rest of the class.

"Yeah," Kamiya said.

"Isn't that bad," one of the guys asked Akatsuki-kun.

"Huh? You know of him," Kura asked.

"Of course I do," Akatsuki-kun said, "like Heza-chan said, he was in control of all the schools around here."

"He was called the Legendary Ring leader of Akadou," another guy said.

I started to feel uneasy about the situation. The guys messed with some one who had that kind of power? For all we knew, he could come back and get revenge on them. After thinking that, I really started to feel uneasy. We started to help decorate, but the guys began to worry.

"That guy was the legendary ring leader," Kura mumbled.

"I had no idea," Kamiya whispered.

"Do you think we went too far," Ichi asked them.

"It'll be alright, I think," Ren gave a fake smile trying to cheer them up.

"Yeah. Right...," Honjo turned to Yamato.

Yamato nodded, "yeah..."

I could hear it in his voice that he wasn't so such that it was alright. After a few minutes of a depressed silence, I stood up.

"Come on guys. Where's your festival spirit," they sighed, "you know being a girl, I'm finding this cafe's atmosphere not very likeable," their heads picked up a little, "and to think, I thought you guys would've gotten some girlfriends because of this cafe. What a shame."

Kamiya stood up, "we will get some girlfriends. Won't we guys?"

"Oh!"

I laughed, "alright then. Let's get decorating."

"Oh!"

After that, everyone started laughing forgetting all about Goda and his gang. I helped Yamato make fliers for the cafe while the others decorated.

Kura ran in, "everyone! We're done!"

We all ran out into the hall. It was amazing and colorful. The spray paint was covered by posters and pictures of the guys. I laughed at one of Yamato.

He playfully shoved me, "shut up."

"This is great," Yankumi said popping out of nowhere.

"Isn't it?"

"Trying something like this is pretty fun, huh," Ichi asked us.

Ren agreed, "yeah. It's unexpected."

We all agreed.

"Everyone," we looked at the end of the hallway to see two guys carrying boxes, "the Hottie Cafe aprons are done!"

We cheered and took them inside.

Honjo opened one of the boxes, "this is cool! It totally fits me, right?"

"I have a good feeling about this," Kamiya smiled.

Yamato grabbed one and gave it the seal of approval, "it's not bad."

As the guys grabbed their aprons, Yankumi came up beside me.

"Everyone looks so happy."

I nodded, "yeah, but now comes the hard part."

She tilted her head, "the hard part?"

I laughed, "getting girls to come."

After school, everyone got a stack of fliers and went to the mall. It was funny to watch. As I walked around to see how everyone was doing, I notice the only group getting results was my group. After a while, I started to get bored because since I'm a girl, I really couldn't help pass out filers.

"Hey guys, I'm going to go get something to drink," I announced, "do you guys want anything?"

They shook their heads. Yamato reached into his pocket and gave me some money.

"What kind of drink do you want," I asked.

He shook his head, "it's for you. Spend that, not your money."

I smiled, "thank you, Yamato."

As I walked away, I could hear the guys teasing him then five huge smacks. That'll teach them. I got my drink then started walking back. When I got back, there was another group I had never seen before in front of them. They were talking then suddenly the guy in purple grabbed Ren. I dropped my drink and ran up to them. I grabbed the guy's hand.

"Let my brother go or I'll break your hand."

He looked at me then let go of Ren. I dropped his hand. He looked at me closely.

He smirked, "so you're the girl who got into Bakadou."

"Bakadou?"

"I guess if a pretty little thing like you is in that school, it wouldn't be so bad," he reached for me, but Yamato pulled me behind him, "oh, so she's your girl?"

"What do you want from my students?"

We looked to see Yankumi standing behind the group.

"Who are you?"

"I'm their homeroom teacher," Yankumi answered.

"A teacher," they laughed.

"If you want something from them, ask me instead."

The guy glanced at us, "taking part in the school festival with a teacher? Akadou delinquents have gone downhill, haven't they? Even if you pass these out, no one will come to Bakadou festival."

With that said, the guy and his group walked away. Yankumi walked up to us still watching them.

"Who was that?"

"A former grad from Akadou, Goda-san," Ichi explained.

My eyes widened, "that was Goda?!"

Ren and Yamato turned to me nodding their heads.

"And are you crazy," Yamato asked, "now you're in the same situation as us with those guys."

I looked down, "gomen."

Ren sighed, "she didn't know Yamato."

"I know," he took a deep breath, "I just don't want her to get hurt."

I looked at him, "gomen."

After passing out the rest of the fliers, we went to our usual place. Yamato laid on the couch as the others sat down or played darts. I walked over to Yamato and sat down by his legs.

"I'm really sorry Yamato," I whispered so the others wouldn't hear, "you're right. I was crazy."

"No, I'm sorry," he sighed, "I should've never said that to you. I just don't..."

"Want to see me get hurt."

He blushed, "yeah," he grabbed my hand, "I care about you, Heza. More than I've ever cared about anyone."

I smiled and laid down beside him placing my head on his shoulder. He kissed my forehead. I closed my eyes to get some sleep when his phone started ringing. I groaned and got up.

He laughed, "gomen," he answered his phone, "Matsukata," he suddenly sat up, "Goda..."

This got everyone's attention. Yamato hung up his phone and ran out. We followed his to a parking garage. We saw Matsukata and his crew laying on the ground.

We ran to them, "Matsukata!"

I knelt down to check their wounds, "are you okay?"

"Sorry..."

"That was late," a voice laughed behind us.

We turned to see Goda and his crew smirking at us.

Yamato threw his bag down, "these guys aren't even involved!"

"You have nerve to drag these guys into it, bastards," Ren yelled.

"We've got to do something about you punks not taking us seriously," Goda stepped forward and punch Yamato.

Once the fighting started, I moved Matsukata and his crew away from everyone, but Goda's crew started to pull us back. I turned and punched the guy holding one of Matsukata's crew. He got up and punched me back. I tried to kick him away, but he grabbed my foot making me fall. Before he could kick or punch me, two police officers ran up.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

I stood as Goda's crew ran away. Goda took one last look at me then ran off. The police shined their flashlights on us.

"You guys...are Akadou students, right?"

I groaned. This was just great. I knew we were going to hear about this in the morning.

I wanted to cry when I walked into the school. Everything, everybody's hard work was destroyed. I ran up behind Yankumi and the others. Our hall was hit the hardest.

"It's them," Yamato growled.

Yankumi turned to us, "them," she saw our faces, "why are you guys injured?"

We didn't say anything. We went to our room and explained it to her there.

"I see. So it was Goda."

Ren nodded, "yeah. Goda messed Matsukata's crew up."

Yankumi looked at them. They looked like mummies.

"They do awful things," one guy said.

"This is unforgivable."

"Why did they get everyone else involved," Kura asked, "it was a fight between us."

Kamiya shook his head, "the others are not involved."

Ichi sighed, "it's us that pissed them off."

Honjo kicked a chair, "damn it!"

"They'll pay for this," Ren yelled.

Him and the other five started to leave, but Yankumi stopped them.

"Where are you guys going?!"

"Isn't it obvious?!"

"What's the point of retaliating," I whispered.

"It's our fault that this happened," Yamato replied, "we can't do nothing about it!"

I felt tears in my eyes, "so will you guys just neglect the school festival then?"

"What's the point, Heza," Kura yelled.

"It's just a festival," Ichi added, "just like every year!"

"It's not "just" the school festival to me this year," I yelled back, "after who knows how long, everyone was laughing and having fun. We all came together to create something instead of destroying it. We were creating memories. Doesn't that mean anything to you guys?"

I wiped my tears and began pick the desks up.

Yankumi spoke up, "Saitou is right! You guys finally came together and did your best to get to this point. Don't just throw it away because of this!"

Yankumi walked up and started helping me. The guys just stood there watching us. Then the door opened and in walked Sawatari.

"Yamaguchi-sensei. The Superintendent is calling for you," he turned to the guys, "yesterday, it seems a big fight broke out. We were notified by the authorities."

Yankumi went to the office with Sawatari. I stopped straightening and just sat down. Yamato came and sat down beside me. No one said anything for a while. Honjo was the first person to speak.

"I wonder if...they'll cancel the school festival."

"If that happens, it means it's all our fault," Kamiya said sadly.

I stood up and started to walk out.

"Where are you going," Yamato asked.

"Out for a walk."

I walked into the hallway and stopped. I hear Yamato coming after me, but Ren stopped him.

"Let her go. When she says she's going for a walk, it means she wants to be alone."

I smiled and silently thanked Ren. I walked out of the school and down the street. I ended up at the park. I sat down under a tree when my phone started ringing. It was Yamato.

"Moshi moshi."

"Come back to the school."

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Nothing's wrong. They decide to continue the festival."

I smiled, "that's great."

"Yeah. Now hurry back."

"Okay. Bye-bye."

"Bye-bye."

I started to make my way back to school when someone grabbed me from behind and put a cloth over my nose and mouth. Everything went black. When I woke up, I was inside a warehouse. Why does it always have to be warehouses?

"Oh, you're awake."

I turned to see Goda and his crew smirking down at me. Goda nodded to one of them. The guy picked me off the ground and held my arms behind me. Goda looked to the right of me then to the left. He smiled then put his hand in my pocket pulling out my cellphone.

"Let's call the boyfriend, shall we," he laughed.

I struggled as he found Yamato's number and dialed it. He put it on speaker.

"Moshi, moshi. Heza?"

"Yamato, don't come. Don't...," the guy put his hand over my mouth.

"Heza?! Oi, Heza!"

Goda smirked at me and put the phone to his ear, "don't think it's all over."

He hung up and threw my phone across the warehouse. I bit my capture's hand and kicked him in the chin making him release me. I made a run for the door, but Goda grabbed me.

"Now, now. Hold on a second. I'm your sempai, and you should take care of your sempais, but here's your punishment for threatening to break my hand the other day," he laughed as I struggled harder.

He threw me to his crew who started punching and kicking me. I started to cry as their kicks and punches hit the same place over and over again. I couldn't help but take back what I said before. I wanted Yamato come. Come and save me.

Goda grabbed my hair, "now, let's have some real fun."

He began to rip my jacket off. I started to cry harder. Yamato, help me! He threw pieces of my shirt to his crew. They cheered. I crossed my arms, but Goda had a guy hold my hands above my head.

"Let's see what you're hiding down here."

He moved his hand down my stomach to my skirt. I closed my eyes. Suddenly his hands stopped.

"You know, I think I'll have my prize once I take care of that school. Make sure she doesn't leave," he laughed, "let's go."

I heard them walk away, but the man holding my arms stayed. Suddenly I heard running footsteps enter the warehouse. I opened my eyes to see Yamato and the others stop at the entrance.

"What's with you guys," Goda asked, "a raid with only 6 of you?"

"These guys are really stupid, aren't they," the guy holding me laughed.

His laugh brought Yamato's eyes to me. I could see him start shaking in anger. The others followed his gaze and saw me. They clinched their fists.

Goda smirked at the sight, "you coming all this way...saves us the trouble."

Yamato glared at Goda, "you're only pissed at us, right? Don't drag the others into this. Now let her go before I rip your arms off!"

Goda ignored his threat, "it doesn't matter what happens to the school, does it? It's pointless to go to that school."

"It's not pointless," Ren yelled, "school just started becoming interesting. Now let go of my sister!"

"I've always been embarrassed about attending Akadou," Ichi admitted, "but it's different now," he glared, "let Heza go!"

Kura stepped forward, "it's kinda fun going there, and you better let Heza go before we make you."

Kamiya agreed, "for me too, and we will protect Sai-chan!"

Honjo nodded, "I feel the same way, and you better let her go before Yamato and Ren kill you."

"We feel that we can find something worthwhile there," Yamato glanced at me then glared back at Goda, "so, we won't let you guys get in the way of that or touch her again!"

"What did you say, you bastard," Goda growled.

"They're saying that they won't let you go near Akadou, you sick bastard," I yelled spitting at him.

"What kind of BS is this, bitch!"

As Goda started kicking at me, his crew ran towards the others. Goda only kicked me twice before Yamato punched him off of me. Ren took out the one holding me. He tried to get me to safety, but two others grabbed us. Goda punched Yamato to the ground.

"Gimme that," one of his guys gave him a pipe and held Yamato down.

I screamed, "Yamato!"

"Don't you dare touch my students!"

Everyone stopped and turned to the entrance. Thanks to the distraction, Ren and I broke free. I went over to Yamato. He pulled me closer to him trying to cover me.

Goda walked towards Yankumi, "what is this, a teacher?"

Yankumi got into her serious mode, "you've been...extremely affectionate with my students, haven't you?"

"Why would a teacher come here of all places?"

"I would go anywhere to protect my students."

Goda laughed, "the students are stupid. So is the teacher."

One of his guys went to grab Yankumi, "go home."

She twisted his arm and punched him to the ground. It doesn't matter how many time she does it, it's still amazing.

"Do you guys understand what they're protecting?"

"What nonsense are you saying?"

A couple more guys attacked her, but ended up on the floor beside their buddy, "what they're protecting is the high school memories of 29 people, and the person who showed them that they could create those memories at Akadou."

Yamato held me closer to him as more guys attacked Yankumi. Once they were out of her way, she continued her speech.

"The six of them marched here for them...for her," the rest, except Goda, attacked her. When she was done with them, she turned to Goda, "you guys have no right to call them stupid!"

As she stared Goda down, the rest of 3-D ran in. They looked at us then at Goda's crew.

"You bastards!"

"You've done more than enough!"

"Don't you guys dare get involved," Yankumi demanded making them stop.

Goda's crew got up and ran away leaving their leader to face Yankumi.

"Goda, why are you so unhappy," she asked.

"Why don't you shut up," he yelled attacking her.

Yankumi dodged his attack, "do you have some grudge against school?"

"Yeah, I do. After I got out of that useless school nothing has gone my way!"

He attacked Yankumi again but again, she dodged, "don't use that as an excuse to run away from reality."

"Shut up!"

He went to attack her again, but she hit him right in the stomack knocking the air right out of him. He hit the ground.

"Listen, Goda. School isn't just a place that you go to, to study what's written in your textbooks. You make friends, you laugh with them, you fight with them, and accomplish something together. There's dozens of lessons to be learned. But...if you don't look forward, nothing will ever begin," she looked at us, "these guys are just starting to learn what's important at Akadou now."

"Like memories," Yamato whispered in my ear.

Yankumi knelt down to get eye level with Goda, "you should also live your life looking forward."

Goda got up and simply walked out of the warehouse. 3-D ran to us.

Yankumi smiled, "geez, guys. Everyone of you always does things your way..."

"We couldn't keep still," one guy laughed.

"The Akadou festival would mean nothing if all of us weren't there," another explained.

I smiled, "sorry guys."

"What're you sayin'? C'mon, get up."

They pulled us to our feet. The guys quickly looked away when I stood. I looked down and remembered that I didn't have a shirt on. Yamato quickly took off his jacket and handed it to me without looking. I said thank you and put it on buttoning it almost to the top. I kept two buttons unbuttoned. Once everyone stopped blushing, Yankumi spoke.

"Alright, guys! Let's go back to school and enjoy the Akadou festival."

"Oh!"

When we got back, I tended to the guys wounds. Once I was done, we went and changed. I gave Yamato his jacket back.

"Thanks Yamato."

He grabbed my hand and led me to a chair in a corner of the room.

"Sit."

I sat down as he walked off and got the first-aid kit. He knelt down and started to apply the medicine.

He placed a bandaid on my neck. I hissed.

"Gomen."

I laughed, "that seems to be the main thing we say to each other now."

"Gomen," we laughed.

He sighed, "are you alright? He didn't...um.."

"No, you guys got there before he could do anything else."

"Good," his face became serious, "I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again."

"Yamato..."

"I mean it. I'm going to walk you to and from school. When you go on walks, I'll come with you. I'll stay at a distance if you want to be alone, but have you in my line of sight the whole time."

"You sound like a stalker."

"I'm serious."

"I know, but," I took his hands in mine, "Yamato, you can't let what happened today effect you like this."

"But you could've been..."

"But I wasn't and I'm okay," I kissed him on the forehead, "I promise. Now go, customers should be arriving soon."

He smiled, "okay," he started to walked away but then turned to me, "I'm still walking you home, right?"

"Of course."

Once he was with the others, I took a deep breath. I was fine. I was okay. I stood up and got in my place to greet customers. It had already been 20 minutes and not one customer came in. I started to think no one was coming until I heard voices coming down the hall. When the door opened, we bowed.

"Welcome."

We looked up, and the guys faces dropped. Instead of high school girls, it was a bunch of old women and young kids. Since none of the guys stepped forward, I went up to them.

"How many, ma'am," I asked the closest woman to me.

She smiled, "two. It's just me and my son."

I knelt down and smiled at the boy, "what's your name?"

"Yuta. Can I choose where to sit?"

"Go right ahead."

He ran off, "yeah."

As I followed the boy with his mother, I sent the guys a look that said get-your-asses-in-gear-or-you-will-hear-it-later. The guys quickly started asking the women how many seat and taking their orders. After a while, I had to get away and stepped out into the hall. I opened the door and saw Yamato sitting in the hall.

I closed the door, "looks like we had the same idea."

He smiled, "looks that way."

We just smiled at each other in silence until Yankumi walked up to us.

"Hey, how's it going? Any customers?"

Yamato pointed to the door, "look for yourself."

I opened the door, and her face was priceless. She watched how the guys were playing with the kids, and how they were treating the customers.

She smiled, "Oh!"

Our group came over to us.

"No female high school students and college students came," Honjo huffed.

Kura whined, "even though they said they would!"

Ichi cried on Kamiya's shoulder, "girls are liars...except you, Heza."

I laughed, "but this will become a fond memory!"

Yankumi nodded.

Yamato smiled, "yeah, you're right."

"I guess it's okay," Ren said.

Yankumi started to laugh, but stop when she saw a certain doctor sitting at one of the tables.

She walked up to him, "Natsume-sensei! You came!"

I watched as he stood to greet her.

"It's a big success, huh?"

"Yeah. What would you like to order?"

He looked at the menu, "how about some iced coffee?"

"Sure," she did a pose, "no problem!"

When she turned to get Natsume's order, she bumped into Ren who was carrying a strawberry cake. The cake went fly off the pan towards us. It was like the tennis ball all over again. We ducked and it hit the wall. We all slowly turned to Yankumi.

She gave a slight smile, "oops..."

 


	10. Episode Eight

**Episode Eight**

I noticed it was a beautiful day as I walked to school. If I was a girly-girly, I would've skipped. I was almost there when I saw Yankumi.

"Yankumi," I ran up to her.

She looked up from the book she was reading, "Saitou, you're in a happy mood."

"Well it's a beautiful day," as we walked, I noticed she was carrying a bag, "that's not a bunch of math papers, is it?"

She smiled, "no, it's just baby stuff."

"Oh baby stuff...eh?! Baby stuff?! Yankumi, are you..."

She laughed, "no, it's for a former student of mine."

I sighed, "I was about to say."

Suddenly she tripped making everything from the bag fall out. I knelt down and helped her.

"Thank you Saitou."

As I placed the items in the bag, I felt like we were being watched. I looked behind us, but no one was there. I shook the feeling off and turned back to Yankumi.

"Man, Yankumi. Did you buy the whole store," I joked.

"No, but they might need the whole store. Taking care of a baby is a lot of work," we stood up, "you'll know what I mean when you have a baby."

I blushed thinking of little Yamatos running around. I shook my head.

"Hey, Yankumi let me carry that," I grabbed the bag, "that way if you fall, we won't have to pick it up again."

"Good idea."

We walked to school. I went with her to the office because I needed to get a new school jacket. When we entered, the teachers were acting really strange. Of course, Yankumi didn't notice.

"Ohayou," Yankumi said as she entered, "Head teacher, Saitou needs a new jacket. Do you have an extra?"

"Hai. Look in that closet."

I went over to the closet and got one of the smaller jackets. As I put it on, Sakura-san pushed Sawatari in Yankumi's direction.

"Is something wrong," she asked.

"Um..."

Yankumi looked at Baba-sensei who was sitting on the ground looking depressed, "what's wrong Baba-sensei? You look like your life is over."

He sniffed, "of course my life is over."

"Huh?"

"Yamaguchi-sensei, I have a question," Sawatari said bring her attention back to him.

"What is it?"

"Preg..."

When he said that, I knew why they were acting so weird. Just like I did, they thought Yankumi was pregnant. But how did they get that idea? Did they over hear us and not get the whole conversation? I shrugged and watched the whole scene in amusement. Yankumi picked up a box off her desk making the teachers go crazy. I tried not to bust out laughing.

"Yamaguchi-sensei, you shouldn't lift such a heavy thing at a time like this," Sawatari said.

"A time like this? If I don't move it, I can't do my job," she stated.

Aoi-sensei smiled, "you don't have to hide it."

"Um, I'm not hiding anything."

Baba-sensei stood up and walked up to Yankumi, "alright! Yamaguchi-sensei. I'm a man too. If it's for your happiness," he took the box from her, "I'll give you up with good grace."

I did a face-palm. Good grief! The teachers said congratulations and started clapping. This made Yankumi more confused than before.

"On what?"

Before anyone could answer her, a man walked through the door. It was the same man that got hit with the tennis ball that one time.

"Hello! Kumai Ramen! I'm picking up your bowls."

"Good morning Kuma," Yankumi grabbed the bag of baby stuff from me, "oh yeah Kuma, here," he started looking through the bag, "it's a bit early to celebrate, but...," he gave her a huge smile, "baby clothes, rattles and some other stuff."

I decided now to make my presence known, "she bought the whole store."

He turned to me, "who are you?"

"This is Saitou, Heza. She is one of my students," Yankumi said.

"Oh! Your one of those kids from that day," he said.

I bowed, "gomen. We really didn't mean for the ball to hit you."

He patted me on the head, "it's alright. You should come by the shop sometime."

"Okay, maybe today," I smiled, "and congratulations on being a soon-to-be parent."

"Thank you," he pulled one of the baby clothes, "this is so cute! Thank you Yankumi."

Sawatari tilted his head, "celebrate?"

Yankumi nodded, "ah, head teacher, Kumai's kid will be born soon."

"Kumai's kid?"

"That's right."

They gave a sigh of relief. Kumai-san turned to me.

"What's that about?"

I laughed, "they thought that Yankumi was pregnant."

He laughed.

Yankumi heard me and looked at them shocked, "you thought I was pregnant by mistake," she playfully hit Sawatari on the arm making him clinch it in pain, "oh, come on...Saitou, let's go."

"Hai," I bowed to Kumai-san, "good-bye and best wishes, Kumai-san."

"Bye and thanks again."

I walked with Yankumi to class. We came up to the door to go in.

She laughed, "geez. Talk about jumping to conclusions..."

We walked in, "good morning!"

"Congratulations!"

The guys started cheering throwing little piece of different colored paper in the air. I covered my face trying not to laugh. So the rumor of Yankumi being pregnant reached class 3-D. They even decorated the board. It said "CONGRATS YANMAMA."

"Here, Yankumi," Ichi placed a chair with a big cushion beside her, "sit here."

Kura nodded, "you can sit during class from now on."

She sighed, "geez, even you guys?"

They smiled and nodded. I laughed at Yamato. With all the small different colored pieces of paper in his hair, he looked like a christmas tree.

Yankumi shook her head, "I'm sorry you went to all this trouble, but I'm not pregnant."

"Huh?"

Kamiya spoke up, "then that baby stuff we saw, was is for..."

He looked at me.

Kamiya smiled and turned to Yamato, "Yamato, congrates. I knew you had it in you."

My eyes widened, "baka," I went up and hit him in the back of the head, "I'm not pregnant. It's the wife of Yankumi's former student that's expecting."

Yankumi nodded, "look, it's a guy you guys know. Kumai."

Ichi and Kura looked at each other, "ah!"

Yamato spoke up, "that reminds me...Kumai-san said he was going to have a baby."

"He sure did," Ren said feeling a little embarrassed.

"Man, it was a mistake," one of the guys said, "I thought it was odd."

"Me too," Honjo agreed, "I mean, this is Yankumi we're talking about."

"Yankumi isn't married," Ichi pointed out.

Kura laughed, "getting married comes before having a kid."

Ren stepped up, "but before that, she needs to find a man."

Yamato laughed waving his hand in front of his face, "it'll never happen."

My guys laughed before going back to their seats. When I saw the look on Yankumi's face, I stayed up front, out of the red zone. The guys, except my guys, noticed too and grabbed Yankumi to keep her from killing the 6 guys. When my guys looked up, Yankumi threw the others off of her with ease. Yamato and Ren started to sink in their chairs. Kamiya and Honjo started screaming while Ichi and Kura clinged to each other.

Yankumi walked towards them, "you guys get ready for a scolding!"

After school, I suggested that we go to Kumai's Shop for some ramen. The guys agreed. Somehow, Yankumi ended up tagging along. When we got there, we greeted Kumai, and I was introduced to his wife. She told me to call her Ami-chan. We ordered our ramen and sat down. Yankumi and Kamiya sat on the ends of the table while I sat between Yamato and Honjo, and Ichi sat between Ren and Kura. Once Kumai-san brought our orders, Yankumi started day-dreaming.

She sighed happily, "I'm going to be a grandma soon."

"Grandma?"

"A student is like a child," she explained, "so that student's child is like a grandchild."

Ren laughed, "becoming a grandma before becoming a mom..."

Yankumi sent him a glare, "don't even go there."

"My bad."

Yankumi smiled and turned to me and Yamato, "I can't wait until you two give me grandkids."

Everyone started choking on their food.

I wiped my mouth, "Yankumi, you're going faster than we are. We haven't even gone on our first date yet."

Everyone looked at us in shock, "you haven't."

Yamato groaned. Luckly Kumai-san started talking to the baby and got everyone off the subject of me and Yamato.

He talked into this weird-looking pink thing, "this is Yankumi. She's going to be your grandma."

Yankumi turned to him, "what are you doing?"

Ami-chan smiled, "they say that talking to your child like this will help them feel at ease."

Yankumi stood and took the pink thing from Kumai-san, "they've developed things like this recently," she knelt down putting it to Ami-chan's belly, "hello. Good afternoon. I'm Yankumi."

As she talked to the baby, we finished eating.

Honjo rubbed his stomach, "man, I stuffed myself."

"The ramen here sure is yummy," Kura stretched.

"Hey," Kumai-san pointed to Honjo, "it's not "stuffed myself," it's "ate a lot", he pointed at Kura, "and it's not "yummy," it's "delicious". I don't want my child to learn language like that."

"There's no way he's going to learn that," Yankumi said trying to calm Kumai-san down.

"He may not learn it, but it's bad for prenatal training," he argued.

"I see."

Suddenly we started hearing classical music. We looked around for the sourse and saw Kumai-san holding a pink radio.

"What music is that," Ichi asked.

"It's supposed to be good for the child," Kumai-san explained.

Kura raised an eyebrow, "classical music in a ramen shop."

We waved our hands in front of our face, "no way..."

Ami-chan went to clean a table, but Kumai-san stopped her.

"Come on, I'll take care of stuff like this."

She smiled shaking her head, "it'll be fine."

"What would we do if something happened to the baby," he argued, "right? Take a break. Keep your body warm. Go lie down," he handed her the radio, "don't forget to take this with you. Let the baby listen to it."

She nodded, took the radio and left. I couldn't help but smile.

"Alright then," Yankumi stood, "I'm going to head out."

Kumai-san turned to her, "are you leaving already?"

"I've got an appointment," she smiled at us, "it's like a date."

We laughed at her. Like we were going to believe that.

"Don't try to look good," Yamato said.

Ren smirked, "you're just going out for a drink, right?"

Her face dropped, "I guess you could call it that too."

Honjo pointed his toothpick at her, "that's the only thing it's called."

"Sakura-chan and Aoi-chan will be there too," Kamiya pointed out.

"You have no chance, then," Kura and Ichi laughed.

She glared at us, "mind your own business!"

We laughed as she left the shop. Once we stopped laughing, Ren turned to me and Yamato.

"So what this about you two haven't gone on your first date yet?"

Yamato groaned again. I tried to kick Ren under the table, but hit Ichi instead.

"Ow! That hurt, Heza."

"Sorry."

"Well...," Ren said getting us back on subject.

I glared at him, "I don't see how that is any of your business."

Yamato put his hand on mine, "it's okay, Heza. We haven't been on a first date because I haven't had the money."

"Eh? That's all?"

Kamiya sighed, "man, if that's the case, I could give some money."

Yamato shook his head, "no. If I'm going to take Heza out, it's going to be with my money."

"How about having your first date here," Kumai-san suggested, "and to celebrate your date, I'll serve you free of charge."

Yamato and I looked at him in shock, "really?"

He nodded.

Yamato turned to me, "well what do you say?"

"Well if that's your way of asking me on a first date then...," I smiled, "sure."

Kumai-san clapped his hands together, "great! Just tell me before hand and I'll reserve a table for you."

He walked away mumbling something about young love. We paid for the ramen and left. We laughed getting back on the subject of Kumai-san's baby.

"Kumai-san sure seems like he's going to be a father that always worries," Ren observed, "he'll be in trouble if it's a girl."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "what's that suppose to mean?"

He ignored me as Honjo added, "he'll totally say something like, "I'll never let you get married!"

Suddenly Kamiya's phone started ringing. He pulled it out and smiled.

"A message from Haruka-chan?!"

"Huh?"

"Is Haruka-chan the Momo High girl from the hook-up party," Ichi asked.

He nodded. Kura went to Kamiya as he opened his phone.

"I want to see."

When Kamiya read the message, he face dropped.

"My mom..."

"What time will you be home," Kura teased.

We laughed.

"She's so annoying," Kamiya complained.

"That's right, your mom does message you a lot," Yamato pointed out.

Kamiya looked across the street and glared. We followed his line of sight to see a group of Ara High students. Yamato shifted protectively in front of me as they stopped and glared at us. The two group of boys glared at each other for a few minutes before the Ara boys walked on. I rolled my eyes before walking ahead.

"I'm going home," I announced, "ja ne."

"OI!"

I turned to see Yamato running up to me.

He smiled, "I'm walking you, remember?"

"Then come on," I laughed.

He took my hand, and we started walking. I could hear the guys tease us, making kissing sounds.

I swung our hand, "so when is our date?"

"Don't know yet," he glanced at me, "when do you want to have it?"

"Whenever is fine. You choose."

He sighed, "do I have to?"

I laughed, "are you pouting?"

He blushed, "no."

"You are," I poked his cheek, "kawaii!"

He looked away embarrassed, "we're here," he let go of my hand, "good-night."

He started to walk away but I stopped him.

"Come on," he turned to me, "don't be like that."

He didn't budge. I poked my bottom lip out making a pout. He tried not to laugh, but failed.

"Look who's pouting now," he came up and poked my cheek, "kawaii!"

We laughed and said good-night before going our separate ways.

I didn't get much sleep. I slowly made my way into the class and fell into my desk. Yamato leaned over to me.

"Are you okay?"

"I wasn't able to sleep," I cried, "my mind wouldn't shut up."

He sighed, "well lay your head down and go to sleep. I'll cover for you with Yankumi."

"Thank you," I laid my head down and closed my eyes, "what did I do to deserve you?"

"I ask myself that question about you everyday."

I fell into a deep sleep, but it didn't last long. I jumped up when a huge cheer broke out in the class.

I sighed, "what's going on?"

"Kamiya announced another hook-up party," Yamato stretched, "did their cheering wake you?"

I nodded tiredly.

"Go back to sleep."

I was about to lay my head back down when Kamiya yelled. I shot up again.

"Haruka-chan from Momo High agreed to a date with me," he cheered, "I've been asking for a month. Now, just like Yamato and Sai-chan, spring has finally come for me!"

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," Yamato commented.

"Okay, I got it," Kamiya smiled, "I'll pass on this party, so someone can go."

The class cheered. As soon as school was over, Kamiya left to meet Haruka-chan. The guys decided to follow him, like we did when Kura had a girlfriend. After I told them I would catch up, they ran out the door after Kamiya. Once I didn't feel so tired, I followed them. I walked to the spot where Kamiya was meeting Haruka-chan and busted out laughing at what I found. The guys were surrounded by a bunch of little kids.

I walked up, "do you need some help?"

"Yes!"

"Okay," I called getting the kids' attention, "why don't you guys go find your teacher?"

"Hai!"

They ran off.

Kura came up and hugged me, "my hero!"

Yamato pulled him off me, "stay off."

I looked around, "so, where's Kamiya?"

The guys dropped their heads.

"We kinda lost them," Ren said.

"You lost them?!"

"It wasn't our fault," Honjo exclaimed, "those kids distracted us!"

I crossed my arms, "blaming little kids."

They dropped their heads lower, "gomen."

We went to our usual place. I played darts with Yamato as the others sat whining about not having girlfriends.

"So when do you want to go," Yamato asked for the tenth time.

I sighed, "I already told you," I threw a dart hitting the bull's eye, "you decide."

He sighed, "tell you what, if you can beat me in the next round of darts, I'll pick the time."

I smirked, "you have noticed I've been hitting the bull's eye more than you have?"

He smiled, "I know."

"Okay, you're on."

We were about to start when Yamato's cellphone started ringing.

He answered it, "moshi moshi," his face became serious, "we'll be right there."

Yamato put his phone up and looked at us, "we have to go to the school. Kamiya got in some trouble during his date."

We ran to the school. We found Kamiya walking down a hall with a depressed look on his face.

"Kamiya!"

He looked at us as we ran up to him.

"Hey, is it true a guy from Ara High beat you up," Ren asked.

"What about your girl," Ichi wondered.

Kamiya frowned, "she's not gonna go out with such a weak guy."

He walked past us.

"Damn it," I whispered.

"That guy is going to pay," Yamato told him.

Kamiya stopped and turned to us, "don't bother."

"Guys..."

Yankumi came up to us with an older woman, who I assumed was Kamiya's mother.

"We heard about the trouble that Kamiya had with an Ara High guy," Honjo explained to her.

"It's not anything for you to fuss over," Kamiya stated.

His mother walked to him, "don't say things like that. Everyone is worried about you."

He rolled his eyes, "I don't need your concern."

The woman bowed to us, "I'm very sorry," she grabbed Kamiya's hand, "let's go home."

He pulled away, "you're annoying."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't treat me like a kid," he told her.

Yankumi spoke up, "but you are a kid," he glared at her, but she ignored it, "after making your parents worry and bow their heads, you don't even apologize. And you think you're a full-fledged adult? How about starting with properly apologizing to your mother?"

"Yamaguchi-sensei, isn't that enough," his mother asked.

"No, it's not," she argued, "apologize."

"As if," Kamiya snapped.

"What?"

"It was that woman's decision to worry and bow her head," he barked.

"That woman," Yankumi raised her voice, "what sort of crap are you saying to the woman who gave birth to you?"

"I didn't ask her to have me," he yelled back.

Yankumi continued, "you're already 18, you shouldn't be talking like such a kid!"

"So I'm a kid! I can't win a fight. I can't protect a woman by myself. I'm worthless!"

He started walking away. We went after him.

"Kamiya!"

"Don't follow me!"

We stopped and let him go. The next day Kamiya didn't come to school. Soon Yankumi got a call from Kumai-san saying he saw Kamiya, who was very upset. Worried, she told us and we ran out to find him. We finally found him in a underground parking garage getting beat by the Ara High guys we saw the other day. The leader went to leave, but Kamiya grabbed his leg.

"I won't lose."

The leader kicked him off, "get off my foot! Like I said earlier," he kicked Kamiya in the stomach, "come back when you're stronger."

We were about to go help Kamiya, but Yankumi stopped us.

"Don't interfere."

I felt tears in my eyes, "but..."

"It'll be okay," she walked forward, "can you just leave it at that?"

The Ara guys turned to her.

The leader raised an eye brow, "who are you?"

"I'm his homeroom teacher," she stated.

"A homeroom teacher," they laughed, "you should back off."

Yankumi glared at the leader, "I can't do that."

"I told you to back off!"

The leader went to punch her, but she caught his fist. He looked at her with shock and fear.

"If you don't leave my student alone, you'll be sorry," she said in a low, dangerous tone.

The leader dropped his fist and ran away with his pals right behind him. We ran to Kamiya.

"Kamiya!"

I knelt down to check his wounds, "Kamiya, are you okay? Can you get up?"

He pushed me away, "leave me alone! Damn it! Damn it!"

"What are you doing," Yankumi asked.

"Please," Kamiya began to stand, "teach me how to fight. I want to become strong so I can beat them!"

"There are other ways to win."

"Please teach me!"

Yankumi shook her head, "unfortunately, I don't have any intention of teaching you that. Come on, we're going back."

As she walked away, Kamiya attacked her. She dodged.

"Stop it!"

"I want to become strong," she dodged his attack again making him fall to the ground, "because I'm weak, I couldn't protect my girlfriend, and I was made fun of by those Ara High kids. Even I have some pride," he kept attacking and she kept dodging, "damn it! I don't want to become a man like Kumai! Always bowing and scraping! I will never become that sort of man!"

Yankumi dodged making him fall to the ground again, "there's no way you could possibly become like that. You don't have any idea what Kuma was thinking when he was bowing his head."

"He's just weak!"

Kamiya got up and attacked again. Yankumi punched him in the stomach shocking us. Kamiya dropped to the ground coughing. Yankumi continued.

"It was to protect you, Ami, and the child inside Ami. So that you guys wouldn't be harmed, he bit his bullets and bowed his head. Can you put on an act like that? Can you eat those feelings of anger for someone's sake? In order to protect something important, can you bow your head? It's not just Kuma. Your mom did the same thing."

Kamiya groaned, "it doesn't concern my mom. She apologizes just to smooth things over, right?"

"That's not it," Yankumi knelt down to look Kamiya straight in the eyes, "it was for your sake. Because it was to protect you, she could do that. Kamiya, listen up Kamiya," she grabbed him softly by the jacket, "fighting isn't the only way to protect that which is important to you. Become strong! Like Kuma or your mother. Someone strong who can protect the important things."

Yamato slipped his hand in mine. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. I looked at Kamiya. Looking at his face, I knew Yankumi's message sank in deep.

"I...said some horrible things to Kumai."

There was a silence, but it was broke by Yankumi's phone vibrating. She stood up and answered it.

"Ah, Kuma? Huh? The contractions have started?"

She hung up and ran out of the garage. We ran after her all the way to the hospital. We went to the baby section where Kumai-san was standing at the door of the birthing room.

"Kuma!"

"Kumai-san!"

Kumai-san turned to us, "Yankumi! You guys!"

"How is Ami-chan," Yankumi asked.

A nurse came out and Kumai-san immediately began to ask questions.

"Um, how is Ami? And the baby?"

"It'll take some more time," she explained.

"Will it be okay," he raised his voice, "it's not the due date yet!"

"Everything's fine," she reassured him, "it's nothing unusual."

The nurse walked away.

"But..."

"Calm down," Yankumi told him, "I'm sure it'll be born safely."

He calmed down, "right. Of course it will."

The sunset and the stars came out, but we were still there waiting for news of Kumai-san's wife and child. Kumai-san didn't sit. He just stood at the door praying. I leaned against the wall between Yamato and Ren praying as well. Suddenly we heard a baby's cry on the other side of the door. Kumai-san started crying. A nurse came out of the room.

"Congratulations. It's a healthy 6.5 pound girl."

Yankumi smiled, "congratulations Kuma."

We smiled, "congratulations!"

Kumai-san started crying harder, "she's born. She's born! I'm a father!"

"You sure are," Yankumi said, "you're a dad."

"I did it. I did it!"

Kamiya stepped forward, "Kumai-san, I didn't understand you at all," he started to cry, "I said all those horrible things. I'm very, very sorry," he bowed.

Kumai-san smiled putting his hand on Kamiya's shoulder, "no problem."

Yankumi pushed Kumai-san towards the door, "Kuma, go and see Ami and your baby."

He nodded and practically ran into the room. After a few minutes of silence, Ren spoke.

"Somehow...giving birth to a child is amazing."

Yamato nodded, "yeah. I don't even know how to put it. It's amazing."

I smiled, "it's a wonderful thing."

Yankumi turned to us, "you guys were born like this too. Whatever you do, don't forget that."

I started to imagine my Daddy in Kumai-san's place waiting and praying for mom and me to be okay, and then his happy face when he heard my cry. I felt tears fall down my face. The happiness my parents must have felt when their child was born, and not just my parents, every parent. Like Yamato and Ren said, it's amazing. We left the hospital and went home. Not wanting to be alone, I went to Ren's house for the night.

The next day, class 3-D was greeted by a very happy Kumai-san. He came to show off pictures of his new babygirl.

"Kawaii!"

"She looks just like Ami-chan," Yamato commented.

"In the future, she might be an actress," Ren smiled.

"You think so too," Kumai-san asked.

Honjo laughed, "Kumai-san, you should deny that."

We laughed.

Yankumi nudged Kumai-san, "what a doting father."

Suddenly the door opened and in walked Sawatari.

"Hey! What is going on here?"

Yankumi took the picture, "head teacher. Look at this. It's Kuma's baby."

Kumai-san pointed to the picture, "look, doesn't the nose look just like mine?"

"Ah, how sad," Sawatari said.

"What," Kumai-san growled.

Sawatari reached into his jacket, "Kumai, take this."

It was a congratulation present.

"Get your wife something nutritious to eat."

Kumai-san took it and bowed, "thank you very much!"

"You of course don't need anymore nutrition," Sawatari joked.

Yankumi smiled, "head teacher, you have a soft spot, don't you?"

We whooed teasing him.

"Shut up! Be quiet!"

"Don't be shy, Goro-chan," I yelled out making everyone laugh harder.

After a very funny day, Yamato was going to walk me home, but instead he led me to the park.

"What are we doing here?"

He laughed, "you'll see."

He held my hand as we walked. He led me to the big clearing where he and Ren fought that one time. It was lit by the moon and stars so I could see. There was something in the middle of the clearing. Yamato pulled me towards it and my heart stopped. It was a picnic.

He laughed at my expression, "well do you like it or would you rather go to Kumai-san's?"

I looked at him, "you mean?"

He smiled, "this is our date. Our first date."

"But what about..."

"I told Kumai-san my plan, and he understood. He even helped me. You see, I had already planned this. The reason I'm doing it now is because," he pointed to the sky, "I was waiting on that."

I looked up at the sky to see that not only was there a moon, it was a full moon. I hugged my boyfriend.

He laughed, "I take it that you like it."

I kissed him on the cheek, "I love it."

That night we talking, stared at the stars and moon, and ate the food Kumai-san help Yamato prepare. It was the greatest first date ever, and I will always remember it.

 


	11. Episode Nine

**Episode Nine**

After our first date, Yamato and I started to change. The guys noticed it too. We were in better moods. We joked, laughed and smiled more, especially with each other. When the guys asked us why we were in such a good mood, we just said our first date. That was another thing Kumai-san helped Yamato with, cover story. So he wouldn't be teased by the others, Yamato asked Kumai-san to say we had our first date at his shop. Remembering how it was in high school, he agreed.

I was sitting in the very back behind the back row of desks with Yamato and Ren. I stretched as Yankumi walked in the classroom. She began to write on the board. It said: Let's seriously think about college and careers.

"Um, next week we'll have college and career guidance sessions," she announced handing out papers to everyone, "I hope everyone will seriously think about their futures after graduating."

"Future? Whether to graduate or not to graduate...Either way it's a pain in the neck," Ren whined.

I turned to him, "you're graduating mister."

"Say, do you wanna repeat school," Ichi asked.

Kura pointed to him, "yeah, why not? I'd want Aoi-chan as my homeroom teacher!"

"Alright," Honjo stood, "everyone, let's stay back another year!"

I shook my head as the rest of the class cheered.

"That's a bad idea," Yamato mumbled.

Yankumi frowned, "it's not the time to be joking, guys. I hope everyone tries their best to graduate by cutting down on tardiness, leaving early, and absences. Many of you have dangerously low attendance already," Murayama's crew walked in, "just as I say it, they're late."

"Sorry, sorry."

"Hamaguchi, Yamamoto, Ohira, Murayama, Yoshida! Lately, you guys have frequently been late and absent," they shrugged her off, "also, if you haven't submitted your future career survey, definitely submit it today."

"Future survey," Honjo asked, "I didn't get anything like that."

"What do you mean "get anything." I handed it out last week."

"Maybe you skipped over me," he asked.

"Honjo," Yamato called.

Honjo turned to him, "what?"

Yamato pointed to Honjo's desk. Honjo checked inside and found the crumbled up paper.

"Oh, I, uh...got it."

We laughed at him, "see!"

After school, Yamato, Ren and I hung out downtown. We went to the arcade first then decided to go to our usual place. We were heading there when Yamato suddenly turned around clinching his bag.

I turned to him, "what's wrong?"

"I just got chills up my back," he said.

Ren laughed, "what do you mean," he looked across the street, "hey, isn't that Murayama's crew?"

I looked where he was to see them running up to group of older guys.

"Who are they," I asked them.

They shrugged, "dunno."

The next day there was a rumor going around about two student saw the bronze statue of the founder of Akadou standing in the middle of the hall. This made the guys start telling other rumors they heard about it. I sat away from them with Yamato wondering how these guys made it to senior year.

"I heard this story from an upper classman," Ren said getting our attention, "when night comes, the hair of the bronze statue starts to grow."

"What I heard was...When night comes, the bronze statue's neck turns 180 degrees," Ichi added.

Yamato rolled his eyes, "no matter how you see it, it sounds totally fake."

I nodded, "no kidding."

Ignoring us, the guys continued telling their stories.

"But this time, a couple of juniors from the ping-pong club actually saw it."

"I heard the bronze statue walked and stood in the middle of the hallway!"

"That's really crazy," we looked at the door to see Yankumi with an uneasy look on her face, "what does it all mean? A bronze statue walking...That's too scary!"

"Huh? You're scared, Yankumi," Ichi asked.

She quickly put on a brave face, "of course not! I was only trying to add on to your story. Did you think I was serious? I tricked you guys!"

Honjo laughed, "she was definitely scared."

Yankumi tried to laugh it off, "there's no way. No way. There's no way that I would fall for such a simple childish story."

Suddenly the lights went out. I quickly grabbed Yamato's arm. Yankumi gave out a scream and ran out. The lights turned back on. We saw Kura holding up a green head.

"Oh? Did I overdo it," he asked making the class laugh giving him a thumb's up.

"Baka," Yamato mumbled before turning to me, "you can let go now."

I quickly dropped his arm, "gomen."

"I didn't know you were afraid of the dark," he said rubbing his arm.

"Yeah," I didn't meet his gaze, "it's a long story. I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Oh, okay."

I could tell he wanted know more, but I just didn't want to talk.

"Sai-chan," Kamiya waved his hand in front of my face, "did you hear me?"

I shook my head, "no, sorry."

He explained that everyone was coming back to the school that night so they could find out if the legend of Akadou was true.

I sighed, "you have got to be kidding."

Ren put his hand on my shoulder, "don't worry Heza, you don't have to come since you're scared."

I glared at him, "I'm not scared."

He laughed, "please, I know you. You've been afraid of the dark ever since we were kids."

"So," I turned to Yamato, "are you going?"

"Wasn't planning on it, but if you want me to..."

I turned back to Ren, "I'm coming."

"Alright!"

That night class 3-D met in our classroom. Everyone brought their own flashlight. I stayed near Yamato who was sitting on the front desk as the others gathered around Ren.

"Is everyone here," they nodded, "are you ready," they nodded again as Ren turned to Yamato, "hey, Yamato. Don't get scared and run away in the middle embarrassing yourself in front of Heza."

Yamato jumped up, "who would be scared?"

"Shhh!"

Yamato lowered his voice, "alright, let's go."

Ren put the flashlight to his face, "operation Akadou Legend Investigation! Fight-oh!"

"Oh!"

We walked out of the classroom and down the hall. I walked behind Yamato holding the end of his jacket. He laughed.

"What are you laughing at," I whispered.

He glanced behind him at me, "has anyone ever told you that you're cute when you're scared?"

I blushed, "has anyone told you not to mess with a girl when she's scared?"

He laughed again before turning back around. We finally got to the front where the bronze statue was, but it gone.

"Is this real," one guy whispered.

"It's really gone," Ichi whimpered.

Honjo gulped, "does that mean that the bronze statue walked somewhere?"

"No way, that's impossible," Yamato said trying to make sense of the situation.

I pointed to the where the statue was suppose to be, "then how would you explain it?"

Suddenly there was a loud bang behind us. We turned. I gripped Yamato's jacket harder.

"What was that just now," Honjo wondered.

Kura whined, "it couldn't be..."

We slowly made our way towards the sound. Yamato kept a protective hand on my hip the whole time. We turned a corner and crowded together. The bang became footsteps, and they were coming our way. We crowded closer together waiting. When a foot came around a corner, I almost screamed, but it was only one of our classmates.

"My bad, my bad," he laughed, "I drank too much juice so I went to the restroom. Then, I couldn't stop going. It was like the juice was going right through me."

We yelled running up to him and hit him on the head for scaring us. I sighed in relieve, but it was too soon. We heard another bang. This one led us to the office. We crowded around the red door. We were about to open it when someone opened it on the other side. When that person saw us, he/she let out a scream making us yell. We stopped when the person ran back in the office.

"Didn't that scream sound familiar," I asked running into the office.

The others followed shining their flashlights on the person, who was crouched down behind the teacher's desks.

"Yankumi?"

She turned to us, "you guys! What are you doing here at this time?!"

"We came to see the walking bronze statue, that's what," Ren explained.

"It's just a rumor," she yelled at us.

"But the bronze statue is really gone," Ichi said.

Yankumi turned to us with a scared look, "what?"

Yankumi joined us in walking down the halls of the school looking for the bronze statue. Thinking I would be safer with Yankumi, I walked beside her in the back of the group, but I was wrong. The whole time she was trying to convince herself that the rumor wasn't true.

"A walking bronze statue? No way, no way. It's impossible."

We heard footsteps behind us. Yankumi and I turned. They were coming from around the corner that we just passed. We slowly walked towards it. I made sure Yankumi was in front. We peaked around when the bronze statue face suddenly appeared in front of us. We screamed. Yankumi wrapped her arms around it head and flipped it. I could hear the guys running back to us.

"Heza!"

"Yankumi!"

I watched as some of the guys tripped over the statue and fell. Suddenly a light shined in our face. It was the school cop.

"What's wrong, Yamaguchi-sensei?"

He shined his light at the ground. Not only did we see the bronze statue, but a man wearing black. He had the statue tied to his back. Another laid on the ground under the guys who fell. The guys got off him. Yankumi looked closely at the two men.

"Who are you?"

The next day was wonderful. Sawatari called the whole class to the office. There he gave Yankumi a letter.

"This is a thank you letter from the police department," he explained.

Ren grabbed the letter out of Yankumi's hands so we could see it better.

"Wow!"

We decided to take a picture. Ren moved me in between him and Yamato, and gave me the letter to hold towards the camera. We smiled. We were so happy, but of course Sawatari had to ruin it.

"You guys. Why were you at the school at that time," he asked.

We paused.

"Um...Well, we came to...," Yamato pushed Ren foward to explain.

"...pick up our cellphones," he said copying Yankumi's excuse.

Sawatari interrigated us further, "and all of you came?"

"Yeah," Ren pointed to Yamato, "I guess you could say that..."

Yamato nodded, "yeah, yeah, that's right."

The class quickly agreed, "yeah, yeah."

Yankumi stepped in between us and Sawatari, "head teacher Sawatari, the school can pass on giving a reward."

"There's no reward," he walked away.

So instead of the school giving us a reward, Yankumi bought us some food and drinks, and we celebrated. We raised our cups.

"Cheers!"

Suddenly the door slammed open and in walked Murayama's crew.

Ichi smiled, "hey, the late bunch."

"What's this," they asked.

Ren took the letter and showed it to them, "ta-dah!"

"Don't get shocked when you hear this," Kura smiled, "yesterday, we caught a burglar at school! Yay!"

"It sorta happened without warning," Yamato said glancing at me.

I pouted. I knew that he was teasing me for screaming louder than Yankumi when we saw the bronze statue. He's been doing it ever since last night.

"This is the greatest achievement for Akadou," one guy said.

Ren pointed at them, "you guys should've been there too."

Honjo nodded, "seriously, it was really fun!"

"Too bad you guys missed out," Kamiya patted one of their shoulders.

Murayama interrupted our cheering, "either way, we don't really care. We're not kids, you know."

The guys started glaring at them, "what's with that tone?"

Ichi and I stepped in trying to keep peace.

"Now, now, now," I smiled at Murayama's crew, "let's toast for now."

Ichi tried to give them a cup of juice, but they didn't take it.

"I don't wanna," Murayama said.

"It's Yankumi's treat," Ichi said pushing the cup to him.

Murayama slapped his hand making the cup fly to the floor, "I said, I don't wanna!"

Everyone paused. Kura was the first to step foward.

"Why are you guys turning on us," he asked.

"We aren't lashing out," one of them said, "it's just that you guys are getting carried away."

Honjo stepped forward, "don't be sensitive just because you missed out."

Murayama threw his bag down and got in Honjo's face, "who's being sensitive! You bastard!"

Yamato pulled me out of the way as they started pushing each other. One of them pushed Kura to the side making him jump in. Everyone tried to get them apart. One of the guys was shoved into the desks that had all our food on it making it all go to the floor. Yankumi came running in.

"What are you guys doing," she began pulling them apart, "stop! I said stop! What part of stop don't you understand?! Break it up," she got them apart and stood between Murayama's crew and the rest of us, "I said break it up! What're you doing? Explain now!"

"Like I know," Honjo yelled.

"Ask them," Kura said.

Yankumi turned to Murayama's crew, "what's wrong with you guys! If you have something to say, say it now. You're all friends in this class, right?"

"Friends," Murayama rolled his eyes, "it's only until graduation anyway. We have other people that we call friends."

They walked out. Honjo kicked the front desk.

"Damn it!"

"They vented their anger as they pleased," one guy yelled.

"I don't get it," Ichi said.

I looked down at the scattered food. Our wonderful mood was now ruined.

"What's with those guys," I whispered.

Yamato wrapped his arm around my shoulder, "don't worry about it."

I looked at him, "but their our friends, right?"

He nodded, but I could see that he was unsure.

We went to our usual place after school. We just sat there. No one said anything for a while.

"Those guys probably won't be coming to school any time soon," Ichi said breaking the silence.

"They probably won't come back at all," Kamiya commented throwing a dart at the dart board.

"There must be a reason," Yamato said.

"Even if we knew, there's nothing we can do," Kura growled.

Ren stood, "are we going to let them be, then?"

"It was them that started the fight," Honjo pointed out.

I sighed, "and? Only a few months ago, you guys were starting fights with each other everyday, and now look at you. You're friends. You fight for each other instead of against. Do you think you would be like this if you gave up on each other just because the other person started a fight with you," they didn't say anything, "just think about it."

The next day, Murayama's crew didn't come to school. Everyone sat there. Yankumi walked in.

"Ohayou," she saw the empty desks, "they didn't come, after all."

"Of course they wouldn't," Kura said.

The class agreed. I rolled my eyes. I guess someone didn't think about what I said last night.

Yankumi walked to the front desk, "I have a favor to ask. The guys that Murayama's crew is involved with now...If you've heard any stories about those guys or if you have any information about them, please tell me. At this rate, they might quit school. I want them to come back to school at least one more time."

Kamiya spoke up, "they won't come back."

"Anyhow, we seem to be their friends only till graduation," Ichi added.

I stood up, "did any of you listen to me last night? They're still our friends."

"But high school isn't required. It's up to you if you wanna go to school or not," one guy in the front said, "it's your own responsiblity."

Honjo glanced at me, "it's okay if we leave those kind of guys alone."

I slammed my hands down on my desk, "those kind of guys?! You guys were those kind of guys, remember?! Thinking that you weren't friends or comrades at all, that you just were in the same class, that's it."

Yankumi stepped forward, "Saitou is right, so how can we leave them alone! Like you guys, those guys are my precious students! Some may say that after graduation each has their own life, and it's no big deal to have been in the same class with someone in high school. But the time spent here together can't be experienced anywhere else! The friends that you've made here might become your lifelong treasures," Yankumi turned to Honjo, "Honjo. When you were in trouble, didn't they work part time jobs tirelessly to make money for you?"

He shifted, "shut up."

She continued, "during the Akadou festival, didn't they help fix things when the classroom was a mess? You can fight with your friends all you want. People you always hang out with aren't the only friends you have. You might argue with some, and end up developing a deep relationship with them."

"Um...," Akatsuki-kun stood, "I...It's something that Murayama's crew told me not to say. When they went to get employment information from Kanpachi Contractors, it seemed like they only said bad things about Akadou."

He told us that one of the workers said it was useless for someone from Akadou to apply for a job. I sat back down. That bastard!

Yankumi sighed, "I see...Someone said that to them."

"This has nothing to do with it," Kura said.

Kamiya agreed, "we're used to that kind of thing."

"They're acting like spoiled brats," one guy yelled.

Yankumi went back to the front, "it's just as you say. The attitude they took was wrong, but haven't you guys also been in a situation at least once where you wanted to run away to a different place? You guys might have been part of that group."

Without another word, she walked out leaving us with our thoughts.

Yamato sighed, "I...sorta understand what Yamaguchi is saying."

Ren nodded, "me too."

I nodded thinking about the day I lost my parents, "me too."

Once school was over, I went with Yankumi to convince Murayama's crew to come back to school. They just walked on by us, not listening to anything we had to say. They didn't come to school the following day. Everyone went back to talking and playing around, except me and my guys. We just sat there staring at those 5 empty desks. I didn't talk to anyone the rest of the day. I was too worried. I went with Yankumi again. This time instead of walking past us, they got in our face.

"You're two are really irritating," Murayama growled.

Yankumi smiled, "they say that a lot, right Saitou?"

I nodded, "yeah. Come to school tomorrow."

They walked past us.

"We'll both be waiting," Yankumi yelled after them.

I watched them walk away, "they'll come, right Yankumi?"

She put her hand on my shoulder, "I hope so."

The next afternoon, I went to the office to meet Yankumi. I overheard the other teachers saying it was useless to talk to Murayama's crew. There's that word again. Useless. It wasn't useless. If it's for your friends, it's never useless. Sawatari said something about how we would be gone in a few months anyway. I was about to walk in and give them all a piece of my mind when Yankumi spoke up.

"That's exactly why we need to teach them now, isn't it? If we let them loose now, it's obvious that they'll go down the wrong path. That's why there's still a lot that I have to teach them while they're in school."

I smiled. Yankumi really was one of a kind. She came out of the office and smiled at me.

"Ready to go?"

I nodded, "yeah."

We walked out of the school and to the place we've crossed paths with Murayama's crew for the last few days. On the way we stop by a takoyaki stand. Yankumi disappeared somewhere with the two workers for a few minutes before coming back. I guess they were friends.

"Where to," I asked following her.

"The Shirokin Town warehouse."

We started heading over there when Yankumi's phone started vibrating. She answered it.

"Ogata?...What?...What?..."

She hung up and started running. I ran after her.

"Matte, Yankumi. The warehouse is the other way."

I followed her to the Shirokin Tunnel. We met Yamato and Ren when we got there. We ran inside, and found our entire class on the ground beaten. We ran to them. I knelt down beside Ichi.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded.

Honjo groaned, "they...took them."

I looked around. Murayama's crew were the only ones missing.

"We tried to bring them back," Kura added.

I helped Kamiya sit up.

He hissed, "Murayama's crew protected us from them."

Ichi nodded, "those guys are bad news."

"Damn it," Yamato growled.

"They'll pay," Ren yelled.

Yankumi stood and ran. As soon as the others were well enough, we ran after her, but we lost her.

Kura panted, "where could they be?"

I took a deep breath then remembered, "they're at the Shirokin Town warehouse."

"Are you sure," Ren asked.

I nodded, "it's where Yankumi and I were going before Yamato called."

"Let's go," Yamato yelled.

We ran all the way to the warehouse. When we got there, the other gang wasn't there, and Yankumi was knealing in front of Murayama's crew, who were badly beaten. We ran and circled them asking if they were okay. I knelt down beside Yankumi.

"Take a look," she said to them, "these guys got beat up like this for your sake. Everyone was worried about you guys. With all their heart. You get it," she stood and began looking at all of us, "listen carefully. What's awaiting for you in life won't be all good. There may be things that break your heart. At that moment, remember it. That you have friends that would put themselves on the line to help you. That you have friends that would rush to help you, when you're in trouble. You guys have in your hands lifelong treasures."

Murayama's crew began to cry, "gomen."

We stood and held out our hands for them. Each took someone's hand and stood. They leaned against the person beside them smiling. I smiled at the sight. Everyone was back together. Yankumi turned to me. I gave her a thumb's up She smiled.

I smiled as Murayama's crew walked in the classroom. Everyone gave them a huge greeting.

Yankumi sighed, "Geez. You made me a bit nervous. But finally everyone's together again," she went behind the front desk, "alright, everyone listen! Listen, okay? You're just barely standing at the starting point. From this point, push your way towards your big future!"

"Oh!"

"A big future is good, but before that, shouldn't we graduate normally first," Yamato smiled.

Ren laughed, "he has a point, huh?"

"I was about to say that," Yankumi walked up to us, "alright, guys..."

I interrupted Yankumi, "let's all graduate together."

"Oh!"

Yankumi huffed, "I was going to say that."

Everyone laughed at her until Kamiya raised his hand.

"Speaking of big futures, I have a question for the couple of the year," he turned to me and Yamato,

"I've been wondering this for a while. Have you two had your first kiss yet?"

"Baka," I stood up and started chasing him around the classroom, "don't go asking questions like that?!"

Everyone laughed at us. Everything was finally back to normal. Well, as normal as it gets in class 3-D.

 


	12. Episode Ten

**Episode Ten**

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my front door. I slowly made my way through my apartment and opened the door. It was Yamato.

I yawned, "nani?"

"What are you doing still sleeping," he showed me the time, "hurry up and get dressed."

My eyes widened. Shit! I was going to be late for school. I ran back into my bedroom and got dressed. When I came out, Yamato was looking at a picture on my wall.

"Are these your parents?"

"Yes," I pulled him out of my apartment and locked the door, "let's go."

We got to school just in time. I sighed plopping in my desk.

"You look like your mom by the way," Yamato said sitting in his seat.

I smiled, "thank you."

"Why don't you talk about them," he asked.

I shrugged, "why don't you talk about your's?"

He turned to the front not saying anything. I laid my chin on my desk and watched the others. They were goofing off and having fun just like every other day, but then a fight broke out between Hosokawa and Ikeda. As they pushed each other, two boys ran out. I guess they were going to get Yankumi. A few seconds later, she came running in.

"What are you guys up to?! Stop it! I said stop it," she easily pushed them down, "geez, this early in the morning. What is it this time?"

"This guy ate all of my chips!"

"But only crumbs were left!"

"Are you kidding me? The best part is when you pour all the crumbs from the bag into your mouth!"

I facepalmed, "are you guys elementary school students?"

Yankumi sighed, "okay everyone. Line up your chairs, desks and take your seats."

"Come to think of it," Ren yelled, "why are you so strong?"

Everyone turned to Yankumi.

"Yeah, yeah, why is that," Ichi asked.

Yamato stretched, "why do you ask this only now?"

"I've always wondered...," Kamiya mumbled.

"That was some crazy strength just now," I commented.

Kura nodded, "before we knew it, it's like "Yankumi = Strong." I sorta went unnoticed."

"Are you learning hand combat of some kind," Ichi asked.

"Um...Since I love action movies, I sorta copied it," she punched the air, "also...a little bit of self-defense techinques. You know, girls have to worry about perverts and such."

Yamato stood, "but you know. Isn't that kinda pointless?"

Ren agreed, "yeah, right! A pervert would never pick her!"

"She's not sexy," Ichi pointed out.

Kura laughed, "no guys would ever target you!"

Everyone laughed in agreement.

Yankumi huffed, "I'm taking attendance!"

As the rest of the class went back to playing around, as my guys gathered around Ren.

"Hey hey hey," Ren lowered his voice, "Yankumi is definitely hiding something."

"By day a teacher, by night a masked wrestler," Kura said.

"Wanna investigate a bit," Ren asked, "let's follow her and find out the secret to her strength."

The guys agreed.

Yamato snickered, "geez."

As soon as the last bell rang, we began to follow Yankumi. She started talking to a couple of boxers. She turned into the parking lot where they came from.

"Boxing? Is that why she's that strong?"

We peaked around to see her petting a dog.

"Aw, Shouhei! You're so cute today!"

We almost fell over, "what the heck is she doing?"

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," she got up and starting walk out of the parking lot.

We quickly pressed against the wall so she wouldn't see us. Once she walked by, we relaxed.

"I guess boxing wasn't it," I whispered.

We went after her. She suddenly ran around a corner. We ran after her, but when we turned the corner, she was standing there glaring at us. We froze.

"What are you guys doing," she sighed, "geez. Why are you guys following me?"

"We just wanted to figure out the secret to your strength," Ren stated.

"Why would I have a secret...," she suddenly turned around and started mumbling to herself.

She turned back around and pointed to the sky, "a flying frog!"

We looked, "frog?"

When we didn't see anything, we turned back around, but Yankumi wasn't there. We looked to our right to see her running away. We ran after her, but lost her.

"We lost her," I panted.

"Damn, she can run pretty fast."

"Why are we chasing her anyway," Yamato asked.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?"

We turned to see Kumai-san coming to us.

"Um...did you happen to see Yankumi," Ichi asked.

He shook his head, "uh, no. I didn't. But her house is close by."

I stepped forward, "do you know where she lives?"

"Yeah, I do."

We smiled at each other. After getting directions, we ran straight there. It was a beautiful house. We walked in.

"Excuse us!"

We saw Yankumi and smiled.

She gave us a small smile, "welcome! What's going on guys? So, you found this place."

Ren narrowed his eyes at her, "you made it tough on us because you ran away."

"Uh, no. I didn't run away from you," she thought for a second, "I was just jogging."

Yamato huffed, "what the heck?!"

"This place is amazing," Kura looked around, "it's like back in the Showa era!"

Kamiya nodded, "your house is pretty interesting, Yankumi."

"What does your family do," Honjo asked.

She looked taken back by that question. I looked around and saw two guys on the other side of the room. They looked familiar.

I pointed to them, "haven't I seen you somewhere?"

"Um...You must be mistaken," the taller one said.

"Ah! The takoyaki guys," Yamato remembered.

"Ah!"

Yankumi went up to the two men, "that's right! Our family have been takoyaki makers for generations. These two are employees. This is Tetsu-san and Minoru-san."

They smiled weirdly, "domo."

We gave a slight bow, "domo."

"So, that shop belongs to Yankumi's family," Ichi observed.

Kura smiled, "oh, it's really good."

"Thank you."

"But why does that say "Oedo Family," Honjo asked pointing to things on the walls.

The Oedo Family? Isn't that family bad news? Wait...does that mean Yankumi is acually a bad person? What am I thinking? There's no way Yankumi is a bad person. Suddenly two scary-looking guys walked in behind us followed by an older man. Yamato pulled me behind him shoving me into Honjo.

The older man looked at us then Yankumi, "guests?"

We ended up sitting on our knees across from Yankumi, who turned out to be the 4th generation of the Oedo Family, her grandfather and Tetsu-san. We gluped. Tetsu-san broke the silence.

"I have a favor to ask man to man...," he glanced at me, "and woman. If the school finds out about our family, Ojou will be unable to continue working there. Can you guys hold this secret close to your hearts," he bowed his head at us, "so, I'm begging you."

"We understand," Yamato said.

"Don't worry. It doesn't involve us," Ren added.

I smiled, "school would be boring without Yankumi. Right, guys?"

They nodded, "yeah."

Yankumi's grandfather turned Yankumi, "Kumiko, you have some good students here."

She smiled at us, "yup."

They invited us to stay for dinner, and we couldn't say no. They made us a hot pot. We sat on one side while the family sat on the other side of the table with Yankumi sitting on the end. I sat in between Yamato and Ren.

"Eat up everyone," Yankumi said, "you're welcome to seconds."

We grabbed our chopsticks, "thanks for the food!"

We dug right in.

"Yummy!"

"It was shocking," Kura stated, "I never would've thought Yankumi's family is actually..."

"When I was 7, I lost my parents in an accident," Yankumi explained, "that's when my grandpa took me in. This has now become my precious home. Everyone is very dear to me more than my real family."

We all smiled at her except Minoru-san, who was still stuffing his face.

"Minoru...All you do is eat meat," Tetsu-san hit him on the head, "when Ojou's giving a heart-to-heart speech!"

He swallowed, "there won't be any meat left though."

Tetsu-san hit him again making us laugh. The rest of the time we just laughed and laughed with Yankumi's family except Yamato. He just sat there and watched us with a sad look on his face. After we finished dinner, we left.

"Yankumi sure has been through a lot," I pointed out.

"Yeah, she has. But it must be fun living at that house," Kura said.

Yamato nodded slightly, "yeah. They really felt like a family, huh?"

Ren and I looked at him. He glanced at us.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, it's just unlike you," Ren commented.

"No, that's not true," Yamato gave a sad smile.

"Hey, hey, hey. Wanna go to karaoke now," Kura cheered.

"Sorry, I'm going home," Yamato started walking away, "bye bye."

I said bye to the others and ran after him.

I grabbed his hand, "you didn't forget you're walking me home, did you?"

He gave me a fake smile, "of course not."

I frowned, "what's wrong Yamato?"

"Nothing," he quickly said.

"Why are you lying to me," I grabbed his shoulder so he would look at me, "please tell me what's wrong."

He pulled my hand off his shoulder, "nothing is wrong," he sighed, "I need to get home. Can you walk the rest of the way?"

"Sure," I bit my lip, "Yamato, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

He kissed my forehead, "I know. Ja ne."

"Ja ne."

I watched him walk off. Once he was out of sight, I walked home. I couldn't get to sleep. I tried and tried. I tossed and turned, but the image of Yamato's sad face wouldn't leave. Suddenly there was a knock at my door. I got up and answered it. It was Yamato.

"Yamato, what are..."

He hugged me tight, "I'm sorry I woke you, but this was the only place I could think of."

I broke the hug and led him inside. I turned on the lights and sat him down at my table. I brought him a glass of water and just sat there, waiting for him to talk. After a few minutes, he dropped his head and began doing something I never thought he would ever do. He cried. I quickly made my way to him and pulled him into a hug. I rubbed his back trying to calm him down.

"It's okay Yamato," I whispered as we pulled apart, "It's oka..."

He cut me off with his lips. I was shocked at first, but then slowly closed my eyes. I could feel all the pain and anger Yamato was holding in his heart in that one kiss. We broke for air.

He placed his head down on my shoulder, "be with me."

I froze, "what do you mean?"

He got closer to me, "please. Help me take the pain away. Please be with me."

When I didn't say anything, he kissed me again.

When I woke up, I didn't know what hurt worse. The fact that last night was my first time, or the fact that I woke up alone. I felt the side of the bed where he slept. It was cold. Sighing, I slowly got up, took a shower, got dressed and went to school. I walked into the classroom and looked for Yamato, but he wasn't there. Sighing, I sat down in my desk.

"What's wrong Heza," Ren asked making our group turn to me.

I leaned on my desk, "nothing."

Thankfully, someone started talking about how this week was delinquent extermination week. My guys turned to him. As they talked, Yamato walked in. He sat down in his desk without looking at me.

"Delinquent Extermination Week? What? They're doing something like that again," Ren huffed.

A guy in a hat nodded, "yesterday, we went to karaoke and a teacher from Kaitoku High preached to us."

Honjo turned to Yamato, "hey, wait. Yamato, isn't your dad a Kaitoku High teacher?"

The class started asking and talking about it until Yamato slammed his hand down and stood.

"Shut up," he yelled glaring at them, "it's none of your business."

I stood, "Yamato..."

He glanced at me then at the guys, "sorry."

He walked out and I ran after him.

"Yamato," he stopped and turned to me, "about last night..."

He rolled his eyes, "you've gotta be kidding. We slept together, big deal."

"Big deal," I yelled, "what do you mean big deal? Didn't last night mean anything to you?"

"Why should it," he asked plainly.

Tears began to roll down my face, "I see."

"Are we done?"

I nodded. He sighed and walked away. I began to drop to my knees, but was caught by Ren. He held me as I cried.

"Shhh," he stroke my hair, "I didn't hear what happened, but I'll go talk to him. Do you want to come?"

I shook my head, "no. He's made it clear that he doesn't want to talk to me."

Ren handed me to Ichi and stormed off.

"Ren," he stopped and turned to me, "don't be too hard on him. I know he doesn't mean it. Please talk to him as his friend, not my brother."

He nodded and went after Yamato. I was silent the rest of the day. After school, the guys took me to our usual place to wait for Ren. They tried to cheer me up, but the only thing that would do that is Yamato. I wanted to see him smile again. I wanted to hear him laugh again. What's wrong with you, Yamato? Why are you acting like this? After a few more minutes, Ren walked in with a very pissed off Yamato. He looked at me then walked to the other side of the room. Ren quietly told us what happened between Yamato and his dad. Seconds later, Yankumi ran in.

She looked at Yamato, "Ogata, what's the meaning of this?"

Ren stepped forward, "I'm at fault for provoking his dad."

"That has nothing to do with it," Yamato yelled, "it's a problem between my father and me. It's all my fault. It's my fault that my family has fallen apart. My dad told me that a guy like me could never be happy," he glanced at me, "it doesn't matter what happens to me! Leave me alone!"

"Don't say stupid things! It does matter," Yankumi went up to him, "running away like that won't solve anything. Especially at a time like this, you've got to face the problem head on. Listen Ogata, there's no one who hasn't been hurt before. People all overcome difficulties and carry on living."

"Shut up," he glared at her then walked out.

It all makes sense now. Why he was so sad watching Yankumi's family; why he came to my apartment and cried. Why didn't I push him to tell me? I felt more tears roll down my face.

"Why didn't Yamato say anything to us about this," Ichi asked.

"We've been together ever since we were freshmen," Kamiya stated, "I didn't even know."

Honjo sighed, "isn't it okay to at least tell your friends?"

"How sad," Kura said.

Ichi agreed, "yeah."

"It's because you're friends," we turned to Yankumi, "Ogata is the most thoughtful of his best buds, right? If he showed his torn heart to you guys, he thought you would worry about him, mainly you Saitou."

I sniffed, "he's that kind of guy."

Ren put his hand on my shoulder, "let's go look for him."

We all ran out. We split up in groups of 2, 2 and 3. We looked all over, but couldn't find him. We met up at the park.

"He's nowhere," Honjo panted.

I looked around, "where did he go?"

"We'll find him Sai-chan," Kamiya said.

We ran off again looking for Yamato. We came to a bridge and saw a bunch of people surrounding a cop car.

"What happened," Honjo asked.

"It was a fight," Kura replied.

Ichi pointed to a guy on the ground, "looks like there's a guy bleeding."

"Hey, it can't be Yamato, right?"

I didn't wait for an answer. I ran towards the crowd with the others right behind me. I pushed my way to the front and looked for Yamato. I saw him be forced into a police car.

"Let me go!"

I called to him, "Yamato!"

He looked up as we ran to him.

"Why are you taking Yamato in," Kamiya demanded.

"Please stand back," the cop said trying to push us back.

Yankumi stepped forward, "he is my student. Please let me speak with him."

"If you want to talk, please come to the precinct," the cop informed her.

He pushed Yamato in the car. As they drove off, we ran after the car.

"Yamato!"

The next day, I didn't sit in my desk. I sat in Yamato's. I didn't talk or look at anyone. No one said anything to me. I just sat there looking depressed until two guys ran in the door.

"Bad news! Yamato's dad has brought a withdrawal letter!"

Everyone sat in their seats.

"Does Yamato...really have to quit school," Ichi mumbled.

I got up and began to walk out, but Ren stopped me.

"Heza, where are you going?"

I turned to them, "I know Yamato didn't do anything. So I'm going to go prove his innocence," I sighed, "please help me. I want us all to graduate together. Please, I love him."

Everyone froze, but then smiled.

Ren shot up, "alright! Let's go guys! Let's go free our friend," Ren cheered, "fight-oh!"

Everyone shot up, "oh!"

We ran out of the school and went to the area where Yamato was arrested. We asked everyone we saw if they had seen anything last night.

I walked up to an old lady and bowed, "excuse me ma'am. Did you happen to see a fight last night in this area?"

She shook her head, "I'm sorry."

I bowed, "thank you."

I went to person after person, but nothing.

"What are you guys doing?"

I turned to see Yankumi. We went up to her.

"If we can prove Yamato's innocence, his withdrawal can be retracted, right," I quickly asked her.

"We want to be with Yamato a while longer," Ich added.

"You guys...," she looked behind us at the others who were busy asking for a witness, "alright, let's split up."

We nodded and resumed our search. After who knows how long, two boys in middle school came up to us. They told us that Yamato protected them from three guys who were trying to take their money.

"Shall we all go to the police together," Ren asked.

The boys nodded. We started to walk when a group of guys stepped in front of us.

"I can't allow that," the leader said.

They surrounded us. I kept the boys close to me.

"You guys keep quiet and let it blow over," the leader ordered.

"So, it was you," Ren growled, "you framed our friend!"

"And what if we did?!"

The group ran at us. I quickly moved the boys away from the fight, but one grabbed me from behind. I punched him making him drop to the ground. I punched and kicked every guy who came near the boys.

"Put an end to this right now!"

I smiled at the sight of Yankumi. It was all over for the others now.

The leader walked towards her, "who the heck are you?"

"I'm their homeroom teacher," she plainly said.

"Teacher," they laughed.

Yankumi got in her serious mode, "how dare you guys give my student a bad rap."

"It's just a teacher. Are you stupid?

They started to attack Yankumi.

"If you look down on me just because I'm a teacher, you're in trouble," she lectured.

"Bastard! Don't get too cocky!"

Yankumi took out the leader, "if you still wanna go, I'll take you on. But be prepared, in order to protect my precious students, I won't go easy!"

"Let's go," the leader yelled running off with his buddies.

I turned to the boys, "you guys okay?"

They nodded. The rest of the class ran up and helped my guys stand. We went to the police station, and the boys told the cops what really happened. We stood at the front gate waiting for Yamato. Ren turned to me and smiled.

I looked at him, "what?"

He nudged me, "so you love Yamato," I blushed, "are you going to tell him?"

I smiled, "yeah."

"Aww!"

"Shut up," I yelled at whole class.

They laughed, but went silent as the front door opened. I smiled bigger when Yamato walked out and looked at us.

"Yamato," Ren yelled.

Everyone cheered and waved at him. Yankumi stepped out from behind him and started talking to him. We all ran up to him.

"Geez. Don't make us worry," Ren laughed.

Yankumi lightly pushed Yamato to us. He slowly walked down the stairs to us. Some of the guys started clapping.

Yamato looked at all of us, "I'm sorry."

Ichi nudged him, "what are you saying?"

Kura smiled, "don't be so distant."

"Aren't we friends," Honjo asked.

Kamiya nodded, "that's right, Yamato."

Ren smiled, "right?"

"Right," Yamato smiled, "thanks, everyone."

He went up to the guys. They started cheering and laughing. I stepped back and watched. There he was smiling and laughing. I was finally happy again. He stopped once his eyes met mine. He made his way to me.

I smiled, "hello."

"How...," he asked, "how can you still smiled at me after everything I said to you?"

"It's because she loves you," Kamiya yelled out getting a slap in the head.

His eyes widened, "you love me?"

"Yeah. Yamato..."

He pulled me into a tight hug, "I'm so so sorry. I know I hurt you, but I lied. Last night was the greatest night of my life,"he broke the hug and looked at me right in the eyes, "now I know I can be happy because I have you. I love you, Saitou, Heza."

"And I love you, Ogata, Yamato."

We kissed making class 3-D cheer. We pulled away and smiled at each other.

"I saw the first kiss," Honjo cheered.

"No you didn't," Kamiya smiled at us knowingly, "from what we just heard and the way Sai-chan was glowing yesterday, I think they've already kissed along with a few other things."

"What do you mean," Ren looked at us then his jaw dropped, "NANI?!"

Yamato grabbed my hand, "come on. I'll introduce you to my mom."

He pulled me away as Ren cried on Ichi saying something about how his little sister wasn't innocent anymore. Yamato led me to his mom.

"Mom," she turned to us, "this is Saitou, Heza."

I bowed, "it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Ogata."

She smiled and bowed, "it's nice to finally meet you," she turned to Yamato, "you're right Yamato. She is very beautiful."

I looked at Yamato to see that he was blushing.

"You have to have dinner with us tonight," his mom insisted.

"Oh...um..."

"Don't worry. His father shouldn't be coming home tonight, and if he does, just ignore him."

I smiled, "okay then. What time?"

"I'll send Yamato to get you around seven."

I bowed, "okay."

7'o clock came really fast. I was so nervous. I changed my outfit for the fifth time when there was a knock at my door. I opened it and was greeted by a well-dressed Yamato. He wore an opened white buttoned shirt with a plain black under shirt along with a pair of black pants and black boots.

He looked down at his clothes, "my mom made me wear this."

"I like it," I did a spin, "do I look okay?"

I was wearing a short sleeved black and white stripped shirt that didn't show too much along with a black skirt and a pair of 2 inch high heels.

He smiled, "you look beautiful."

"Thank you."

I closed and locked my apartment door. Yamato took my hand and led me to his house. When we got there, my jaw dropped. It was huge. He laughed at me expression before leading me into the house. His mother greeted me and told Yamato to set the table then she went back to the kitchen.

"Can I help in anyway," I asked watching Yamato pout as he set the table.

"No," he smiled, "you can look around if you like."

I walked into the living room and looked at all the photos on the walls. The photos were mainly of Yamato when he was a little kid. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned thinking it was Yamato, but it was an older man.

"So you're the girl Yamato has been seeing," he said looking me up and down with disgust, "so he chooses his girlfriends as he chooses his friends, poorly."

"So you're Yamato's father," I said ignoring his comment, "funny, I was expecting someone happy."

He narrowed his eyes at me, "nani?"

I shrugged, "just saying, for a man who lectures others about being happy, you would think he was happy himself. But let me just say this, Yamato doesn't need a lecture about being happy. He is happy. He has friends who will never abandon him, a mother who supports him, and someone who loves him for him."

He shook his head, "you call that happiness? That boy will never be..."

"Shut up," I yelled, "that boy is the love of my life, and I will not stand by and let you belittle him. He is the best, and he will become a better man than you will ever dream because unlike you, he has love!"

The man froze. He slowly turned and was about to leave when Yamato walked in.

He glared at his father, "get out."

His father didn't say anything. He just walked out. Once the door closed, Yamato leaned against the door frame and smiled at me.

"You heard didn't you?"

He nodded, "yes, I did and you know what?"

"What?"

He slowly made his way to me, "I love you."

I playfully rolled my eyes, "I love you too."

That night we had dinner, laughed and joked around. His mom even showed me every baby picture she had until Yamato took the picture books away. He walked me home and kissed me goodnight.

"I know I've said it a lot already, but I love you."

I smiled, "I love you too."

 


	13. Deleted Episode

**Deleted Episode**

I flushed the toliet for the 20th time. I looked in the miror to see that I was pale. My hair was a mess, and I looked horrible. I called Yamato.

"Moshi moshi."

"Hey Yamato, it's Heza. Listen, I'm not going to school today."

"Are you okay? Do you need me to come over?"

"No, I'm fine. I think I just caught some kind of bug. Can you please tell Yankumi that I'm sick and that I'll hopefully be at school tomorrow?"

"Sure. I hope you get better and remember if you need me, I'll skip and be right there."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye bye."

"Bye bye."

I hung up and poured me a glass of water. I sipped it looking at my calendar. Today was circled in red. It was like that so I wouldn't forget. Which was kinda pointless. How does a child forget the day her parents were murdered. I placed my glass down and put my hand on my forehead. I wasn't running a fever, but I was throwing up all morning. Maybe it's just nerves because of today. Yeah, it's just nerves. I mean, what else could it be? I laid down in my bed and drifted off to sleep.

Dream

I was sitting with my parents in our house eating dinner. I was only four at the time so I was sitting on bunch of phone-books so I could reach my plate. I was telling them about my day at the Kazama's.

"And I hit a homerun Mama," I threw my hands up in the air knocking my cup of juice over, "oops."

Mama and Daddy laughed as Mama cleaned up the mess.

"Really? Did Ren hit any homeruns honey," Daddy asked as he poured me more juice.

I shook my head, "no, but when I hit the homerun, the ball flew through the air and landed on some boy's head."

"Is he okay?"

"When I asked him, he said he was, and then he just walked away," I explained.

Suddenly the bell rang.

"I'll get it.

I jumped out of my chair and made my way to the front door, but I was pulled back by Mama.

"Get somewhere safe," Daddy whispered to Mama.

She took me down in the basement. She placed me in a small space behind the stairs. She told me to stay there and to be quiet. She made her way up the stairs and closed the door. It became pitch black. I hugged my legs and listened. I didn't know what I was listening for, but that's what I did for what seemed like days. Then I hear it. 6 gunshots. I hugged my legs closer. The basement door opened, and from where I was sitting, I could see someone's feet coming down the stairs. The person began to look around. The person turned to where the light from upstairs showed his face to me. He was a young-looking man with a scar that went from his right eyebrow to the left side of his chin. I held my breath as he looked in my direction.

"Their brat's not down here," he yelled walking back up stairs, "must be at a friend's house. Let's go."

The basement door closed leaving me in the dark. I didn't move. I couldn't move. Even though I was four, I knew. Somehow I knew that my parents were dead and that man killed them. The basement door opened again, and I heard a familiar voice.

"Heza?"

"Kaoruko," I said loud enough so she could hear me.

She ran around the stair and knelt down to me with her arms out.

"It's okay sweetie," she whispered, "come on."

I slowly crawled out and into her arms. She picked me up and walked up stairs. I buried my face in her neck when the bright light hit my eyes. She held me closer. I peaked through her hair to see two puddles of blood. I buried my face in Kaoruke's neck again and cried.

"Shh," she stroke my hair, "it's going to be okay."

As she walked away from the house, I lift my head and screamed.

"Mama!"

I shot up and looked around. I was back in my apartment. I sighed. I would start having those dreams the day of. I got up and went to my kitchen. I fixed some soup so I wouldn't upset my stomach. Thankfully, it worked. I took a shower and got dressed. I walked out of my apartment and locked it. I walked around staying clear of the school area. I kept walking until I found myself in front of Yankumi's house.

"Oh, Saitou-san."

I looked to my right to see Tetsu-san walking with grocery bags.

I bowed, "ohayou, Tetsu-san."

"It's one in the afternoon, Saitou-san," he corrected.

"I'm sorry," I scatched the back of my head, "I haven't been feeling well lately," I suddenly felt like throwing up, "can I came in and use your bathroom?"

He saw me holding my stomach and quickly led my inside to the bathroom. After a few minutes, I came out.

"Are you okay, Saitou-san? Do you need a doctor?"

I shook my head, "no, I'm good. I need to go. Thank you for letting me use your bathroom."

Before he could say anything, I walked out and went to the cemetary where my parents were buried. I sat down in front of their graves.

"Hey," I sniffed, "I know I haven't visited in a while, and I don't have an excuse. I have a boyfriend. His name is Ogata, Yamato. He's a great guy and a real bad boy. You probably wouldn't like him, Daddy. I bet you want to kill him and me for what we did a couple of weeks ago," I laughed, "I love him, and the thing is, it's not puppy love I feel with him. It's real. The kind of love I saw in Mama eyes when she looked at you, Daddy, and the same thing goes for when Daddy looked in your eyes, Mama. I couldn't imagine my life without him. I hope me being with him makes you guys happy."

I spent a few more minutes sitting there talking to my parents. I started to walk around again so I wouldn't have to go home to my quiet apartment. I found myself in front of my old house. It was run-down and the roof was caved in, but I still recognized it. No one could sale the house thanks to the incident so everyone left it there to rot. I made my way inside being careful of the rotten wood and missing floor boards. I slowly walked through the house to the basement. I crawled under the stairs and hugged my legs like I did all those years ago. I closed my eyes. I could still hear the gun shots. I couldn't help but start crying. Suddenly my arm was grabbed. Thinking it was the man who killed my parents, I started to struggle.

"Heza, it's me. It's Ren."

I opened my eyes to see Ren kneeling down like his sister did when she found me. I crawled back out and hugged his neck.

I sniffed, "how did you find me?"

He hugged me close, "I remembered what today is. I'm just sorry I made you go through today alone."

He got me on his back and carefully walked. When we got out, we were met by Yankumi and the others.

"Saitou, what were you thinking," Yankumi lectured, "first you tell Ogata you're not feeling well then you walk around town and go into a house that could've collapsed on you."

I didn't meet her eyes, "gomen."

She sighed, "at least you're safe."

I buried my face in Ren's shoulder as he walked to Yankumi's house. He sat me down in their little garden in the middle of their house. I sat there as he walked off. After a few minutes, Yamato came and sat down by me.

"Ren told us about your parents," I didn't say anything, "Heza? Heza, please talk to me. I want to help."

I remained silent. Sighing, he got up and left. It started to rain so I got up and sat down in the doorway away from everyone. I watched as the beated down on the plants. I didn't pay attention to anything else. The next thing I knew was Ren trying to feed me some soup. I shoved his hand away, but he kept on trying. Finally, I knocked the whole bowl out of his hands.

"You're being a spoiled brat, Heza," Ren yelled.

"Kazama, let me try."

Ren moved to let Yankumi sit in his place.

She gave me a sad smile, "I know what you're feeling, Saitou."

I glared at her, "so you know how it feels to have sat in a dark basement while your parents were gunned down. News flash, Yankumi. You don't know how it feels. I heard not one, not two, but six gunshots as I sat there waiting for my parent to come down stairs and get me so we could continue eating dinner," tears started to rolled down my face, "you don't know how that feels. None of you do!"

"Saitou...," Yankumi sighed, "you need to let go of the past and move on. How do you expect to have a bright future if you're stuck in the past?"

I stood, "I'm going for a walk."

"But it's still raining," Ichi pointed out trying to stop me, but I walked out.

"Heza!"

I ran down the street getting soaked in the process. I heard the guys calling my name, but I didn't stop. I looked behind me to see they weren't following. I looked around. I was back in the cemetary. I slowly made my way to my parents' graves again. I sat down and started to feel sick again. Oh no, not now. My vision started to get foggy. I collasped while trying to keep my eyes open. I turned on my back. The rain started beating down on my face just like those plants at Yankumi's. I closed my eyes.

"Heza!"

I felt my body being picked up and engulfed in heat.

"Heza! Please open your eyes! Please!"

Soon the person's voice disappeared. I opened my eyes and saw darkness. I started to shake in fear. A woman's laugh broke through the darkness.

"That's right. You're afraid of the dark."

Suddenly my surroundings became white, revealing a beautiful woman a few feet in front of me.

"Mama!"

I ran up to her and hugged her. She patted my back.

"Yes, I'm here," she pulled away, "and your daddy says hello. He would've been here, but only one of us could come and talk to you."

I sniffed, "talk to me?"

She nodded, "yes. We don't like how you've been living your life lately. Your teacher is right. You need to let go of the past and start walking towards your future."

"But...I can't just forget you guys."

"We're not asking you to forget us," she laughed, "what kind of parents do you think we are? We just want you to move on from what happened. You're destroying yourself, Heza, and I know you can see that."

"Is that why I've been sick lately?"

"No, that's because of a different matter," she walked away and stopped in front of a huge lake that wasn't there a few seconds ago, "look in the water, Heza."

I walked over and looked in the water. At first, it just showed my reflection, but then it started showing the times I spent with my parents.

Mama smiled, "look at that little girl and how happy she was. You know I haven't seen her this happy until recently.

I tilted my head at her, "huh?"

"Look."

I looked back at the lake to see me and Yamato talking on the roof. The scene changed to when the first time he walked me home. I smiled at the scene when he asked me to be his girlfriend then blushed at the scene in my apartment. The last scene was of us kissing in front of the class after we proofed he was innocent.

Mama started to speak, "you know, seeing you like that, I have no doubt you can let go of the past and start a future. A future with that boy, Yamada..."

"Yamato," I corrected.

"Whatever, the point is," she took my hands, "you need to move on, and if you really love this Yamato, you wouldn't make him cry."

"Make him cry?"

She pointed to the water. What I saw broke my heart. Yamato was crying in the rain holding me. He was screaming for me to open my eyes, but my body didn't move. He kept telling me how much he loved me.

I started to cry, "Yamato..."

"Go to him," Mama whispered in my ear, "oh and by the way, you were right. Your daddy wanted to kill you both for that night of passion, but I can see how much you love each other so I've got your back," she winked.

I laughed. She kissed my forehead then pushed me into the water. It was like I was a brick. I just kept falling and falling. I closed my eyes then opened them. I wasn't in the rain anymore or with my Mama. I was in a hospital bed. I started to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through my body.

"Just lay back down, Miss. Saitou."

I looked to my right to see the doctor Yankumi had a crush on, Natsume, smiling down at me. I laid back down.

"What happened?"

"Well, your boyfriend found you in the cemetary in the rain, and you've been asleep for a few days," he explained, "you passed out due to lack of nutrition."

"Lack of nutrition?"

He started to check my chart, "yes, it's common for nutrition level to drop when you eat for one when you should be eating for two."

"Eating for two?"

He smiled, "congratulations, Miss. Saitou. You are officially a few weeks pregnant."

I froze. I was pregnant? So that's what my Mama meant. Oh no. I'm not ready to be a mother, and Yamato...how is Yamato going to react? Will he be happy or pissed?

"Miss. Saitou," I turned my attention back to Natsume, "your whole class is here to see you, but we can only let one in at a time because too much commotion is bad for the baby."

"Right. Could you call Ogata, Yamato in. I need to talk to him."

"Okay," he walked out.

I slowly sat up ignoring the pain. How was I going to tell him? I can't just say you're going to be a father as soon as he walks through the door. The door opened and in walked Yamato. I screamed in my mind to tell him. Come on Heza, say something.

"Hey."

Idiot.

He sat down in the chair beside my bed, "hey? That's all you've got to say? I thought you were going to die."

"I know..."

"No, you don't know, Heza. You ran out in the damn rain. Why don't you think before doing something?"

"You're one to talk. What about...," I didn't finish.

I grabbed the trash can beside my bed and threw up. I felt Yamato hold my hair back and rub my back.

"Did they find out what's wrong with you? Why you're so sick," he asked handing me napkin from his pocket.

"Yes, they did. Yamato...I don't know how I'm suppose to say this."

"What are you trying to say?"

I took his hand and placed it on my stomach. He looked at me confused. He looked at his hand then his eyes widened.

"You mean..."

I nodded, "we're going to have a baby."

He didn't say anything.

"Yamato, please say something."

"I need some fresh air," he stood and walked out.

I closed my eyes. He hates me now, and it's all my fault, but then a yelled sounded through the hospital.

"I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!"

I laughed. Natsume ran in.

"Is everything okay?"

"Everything is wonderful."

Right then and there I vowed to let go of the past and look to the future.

I was finally let out of the hospital and was aloud to go to school the next day. Yamato and I hadn't told anyone yet about me being pregnant. We waited until after Yankumi took roll. I raised my hand.

"Yankumi," everyone turned to me, "Yamato and I have an announcement for the class."

She smiled, "okay. Come on up."

I took Yamato's hand and walked to the front.

"Okay before we announce anything, Ren has to promise not to freak out or kill anyone," I said.

Ren looked at me suspiciously, "okay."

I smiled, "great. Now let's see...um...how should we say this?"

"I know," Yamato walked up to Yankumi and whispered in her ear.

Her eyes widened, and she froze.

I facepalmed, "really?"

"Just watch, in five, four, three, two, one."

Yankumi started jumping up and down. She ran up to us and hugged us. She turned to the others who were very confused.

"You guys, how does it feel to be uncles, especially you five," Yankumi pointed to our group in the back.

"Huh?!"

She started to daydream, "I'm going to have another grandchild."

"Grandchild?!"

Being the smartest of the group, Ichi jumped up first.

"Heza's pregnant," he yelled.

Ren shook his head, "no way..."

"Ren."

He looked at me, and I nodded.

He jumped back, "eh?!"

The others jumped up cheering. The whole class swarmed us asking questions.

"Sit down," Yamato yelled over them, "crowding is not good for the baby."

As the others went back to their seats, Ren walked up to Yamato.

He held out his hand, "take care of her."

Yamato took his hand, "always."

I smiled at the exchange. Ren then turned to me and smiled.

"I'm going to be an uncle. I'm gonna be an uncle."

Kamiya put his hand on Yamato's shoulder, "and you, my friend, are royally..."

"Kamiya," Yankumi yelled putting her hand on my stomach, "not in front of the baby."

The class nodded, "yeah, not in front of the baby."

I laughed. That night, we told Yamato's mother about the baby. She was surprisingly happy. I thought she would be mad because we weren't married and stuff. She even started to hum while she was cooking dinner. As we waited on dinner, we went to Yamato's room. I was laying on his bed while he finished his homework.

"Hey Yamato," he looked up at me, "who was your first love?"

"Huh," he got up from his desk and leaned on the bed, "what kind of question is that?"

I shrugged, "just wondering."

He got in the bed and laid down beside me, "I would have to say it was this girl who I met when I was four."

"When you were four?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "it was funny too. She hit me in the head with a baseball."

I sat straight up, "now that's just weird. I remember when I was four, I hit this boy in the head with a baseball. Was it you?"

He smirked, "funny little world, isn't it?"

My jawdropped, "you knew?"

"Like I'm not going to recognize the girl who hit me in the head with a baseball," he sat up, "but yes, I knew it was you. I recognized you the first day of freshman year, and you stole my heart all over again like you do now everyday."

I hugged him, "you're so cheesy."

"I guess I've become a cheesy guy. You kinda bring that out in me," he pulled back, "so who was your first love?"

"Well I was a Daddy's girl, so it was my Daddy," I smiled sadly, "I even told my Mama that I was going to marry him when I got older. He was my bestest friend besides my Mama."

Yamato smiled before leaning down and kissing my belly, "if you're a girl, I hope I have the same relationship with you that your mommy had with her daddy, and if you're a boy, I promise to be a better father than mine ever was to me."

I ran my fingers through his hair as he kissed my belly again. He sat up and kissed me.

"And I promise to be a better man towards you than my father was to my mother."

"You already are," I kissed him again.

I was moving forward, and it was all thanks to one person. Thank you Ogata, Yamato for being my reason.

 


	14. Episode Eleven

**Episode Eleven**

I groaned resting my head on my desk. Man, morning sickness was kicking my ass. Yamato lifted my head so he could sit on my desk. He gently placed my head in his lap. The others sat in the surrounding desks.

Honjo tilted his head at me, "what's wrong, Sai-chan?"

"Nothing. Just a normal morning of being pregnant," I replied as Yamato kissed the top of my head, "but hopefully, the morning sickness will die down by the time July gets here."

"It's almost July," Ren asked before smiling, "that means it's finally summer break!"

"Hey, wanna go on a trip," Honjo said getting excited.

The others agreed, "good idea!"

Ichi smiled, "the last summer break of our high school life."

Kura gasped, "that's right. It is our last summer break."

"Alright," Kamiya stood, "everyone, let's go somewhere!"

Everyone jumped up and cheered. I could feel a headache coming on as they got louder.

"Summer means the beach, right," Yamato hinted.

"The beach means...," Ren's face lit up, "Okinawa!"

Honjo agreed, "we might hook up with some bikini-clad girls!"

"Bikini-clad girls!"

I told them to quiet down because of my headache, but they started daydreaming.

They sighed, "how nice..."

I rolled my eyes at them.

"Don't include me and Heza in your wild imaginations," Yamato said running his fingers through my hair.

Ren shook his head coming back to reality.

"Alright! Let's go to Okinawa," he cheered.

They started cheering making my headache grow, but thankfully, Yamato stopped them.

"But do you guys have money for the trip," he asked.

The guys' faces dropped.

Kamiya stood, "how about we work part time at a beach house and pick up girls at the same time?"

Kura nodded, "that sounds good."

"Everyone," Ichi jumped up, "let's make this summer hot!"

The class cheered.

"I'm determined to get some girlfriends," Kura cheered.

The class cheered again, but this time a small voice joined them. I glanced behind Yamato to see Yankumi with her arms raised and a huge smile on her face.

"Like I always say, stop showing up like that," Yamato lectured.

"You're going too," a guy asked.

She shook her head, "don't you guys worry. I'm going to Hawaii. Since I'm an adult, I deserve to go somewhere like Hawaii."

The door slammed open, "What's with the ruckus?!"

I groaned at the sound of Sawatari's voice. I buried my face in Yamato's leg before raising my head so he could get off my desk. He kept his eyes on Sawatari and Yajima as he backed up to stand beside me. I leaned my throbbing head on his hip as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"We can hear you all the way down the hallway," Yajima said.

Yankumi smiled, "sorry. We were discussing summer break and..."

"Summer break," Sawatari asked cutting Yankumi off, "it seems like you guys are very worked up, but you haven't forgotten that before summer break there's final exams, have you? If you want your summer breaks, it would be best if you all did your best on finals."

"Those with failing scores below 30 points on the finals will need to take supplementary classes during summer break," Yajima explained.

"Supplementary classes?!"

"Everyday. Monday through Friday...," Sawatari smirked, "you can pretty much kiss your summer break good bye."

The guys started booing the two male teachers.

Sawatari ignored them and turned to Yankumi, "Yamaguchi-sensei, please teach them well. It's homeroom teachers who will be teaching the summer classes."

Yankumi's face dropped completely, "what?"

Yajima laughed, "in other words, if one of them has a failing score, you won't have a summer break either, Yamaguchi-sensei."

Yankumi's jaw dropped, "what?! I didn't hear about such...," she paused and looked straight at Sawatari, "so, that's why you were smirking earlier?!"

Sawatari gave her a smug look, "Yamaguchi-sensei, it's unfortunate, but it's better you accept that you don't get a summer break."

Yajima nodded, "well, it's impossible that no 3-D student will get a failing score."

Honjo jumped up, "what was that?!"

"How dare you say that," Kamiya shouted.

Sawatari laughed, "if that does happen, well...I'll walk through the neighborhood once on my hands. I can even do it with just a loincloth on."

"Bastard, are you for real," Ichi growled.

"For real."

"So, you'll really walk on your hands with a loincloth on," Kura asked.

"I will, I will, I will."

Ren glared at Sawatari with a smirk, "fine. Let's have you do that. Okay, guys. Let's get scores above 30 in every subject!"

"Oh!"

"Are they serious," Yamato whispered.

"Great guys," Yankumi cheered.

"I think your efforts will be wasted, but well, try the best you can," Sawatari smirked at me, "mainly the one who looks like she about to pass out."

I groaned, "hey, monkey! Have a loincloth ready!"

Sawatari smirk dropped. He turned and walked out with Yajima right behind him.

"Let's prove him wrong, guys," I said standing weakly.

"Oh!"

"Geez, it can't be be helped. I guess I'll join," Yamato said wrapping his arms around my waist, "but are you sure you're up for it?"

"I'm always up for proving that monkey wrong," I growled.

He snickered resting his chin on my shoulder.

"This is an interesting turn of events," Yankumi smiled, "alright! 3-D's Don't Fail Finals Operation! Fight-oh!"

"Oh!"

Right after school, my guys and I went to the takoyaki stand because one: it has a table and chairs where we can study, and two: I was craving takoyaki. After a few minutes, the guys started complaining.

"Ah! I haven't read textbooks like this since elementary school," Kura yelled slamming his textbook down.

Ichi scratched his head with a pencil, "man, I'm losing brain cells."

"Well, if we have to study this hard, we'd want to go somewhere like Okinawa on summer break," Ren stated.

"But, we have no money," Yamato pointed out again.

Kamiya stood up, "how about making some money at pachinko?"

"Okay, let's go play pachinko," Honjo cheered.

The guys, except Yamato, stood up cheering.

"HEY," I yelled cutting off their cheers, "you're not gambling. Now sit your asses down before I make you!"

They slowly sat back down.

"How can Yamato deal with her mood swings," Kamiya whispered to Kura.

"He doesn't do things to piss me off," I growled, then I put on a huge smile and held my hands out to Yamato, "and he gives me pocky."

Yamato sighed at my childish behavior before he handed me a box of pocky. We kept studying until Minaru-san and Tetsu-san had to close the stand. Then we decided to go to our usual spot. Yamato and I were walking in front while the others were laughing about random things. Yamato turned a little and started laughing at them when someone ran into us. Yamato quickly caught me before I hit the ground and glared at the person.

"Hey!"

"Ogata?"

We froze at the voice. Yamato immediately pulled me behind him.

"Goda."

Goda didn't say anything. He just turned and ran down the street. The others ran up behind us.

"Hey, that was Goda, right," Ren asked.

"Yeah. I smell something fishy here," Yamato turned to me, "are you alright? Is the baby okay?"

"We're fine. He didn't bump into me that hard."

"But..."

"Aww. Look at Yamato being the worrying father and boyfriend," Honjo laughed.

"Shut up," he barked in embarrassment then mumbled, "I was just making sure they were fine."

I giggled, "there's no need to worry, but I really should be getting home. I'm really tired."

"I'll walk you," Yamato said shaking off his embarrassment.

We said good-bye to the others and walked to my apartment. We said our good-byes to each other before I walked into my apartment and went to bed.

The next morning was great. First, I woke up without any headaches. Then, when I got to class, everyone was already studying, meaning it was quiet for once. I sat down, got out my books and started studying. After a while, the guys started to complain breaking the peaceful silence.

"Ugh...This is impossible," Ren groaned banging his pencil on his desk, "there's no way."

Honjo threw down his book, "I'm at my limit, too."

"I quit! Quit! Quit," Kamiya chanted closing his book.

Ichi turned to them, "hey, don't give up so easily."

I nodded, "yeah, everyone's still trying."

"It doesn't look that way though," Yamato commented.

"Huh?"

I look at the other guys. Most of them were asleep. One guy banged his head on his desk just to keep himself from falling asleep. We heard snoring behind us. We looked to see Kura sitting up straight in his desk sleeping.

"Hey...," Ren tiredly stood up, "you guys aren't studying?"

Yamato slammed his book closed, "of course they're not."

Then and there, we decided to give up. We just weren't the studying type, no matter how hard we tired. After school, we went to our usual spot and sulked. I sat beside Yamato with my back pressed up against his arm and my head leaning back on his shoulder.

Ren sighed, "no matter how I see it, it's impossible for us to all pass."

"We aren't exactly the types to study, anyway," Yamato said resting his head on mine.

Honjo pouted, "but I wanted to get that head teacher to do a hand stand."

"You know, giving up is sometimes crucial in life," Ichi said trying to sound wise.

"Yeah, that's true," Kura paused, "but I feel a little bad for Yankumi."

Kamiya nodded, "yeah, she'll lose her summer break, too."

"I'm fine with that."

We looked over at Yankumi for a second before jumping back.

"I told you not to pop up like that!"

"Let's have class together during summer break," Yankumi stated sadly.

We relax a little.

I leaned over a little bit, "what's wrong?"

She glanced at me before dramatically turning away, "please don't ask me about it!"

She, then, kept saying 'my apologies.' I was about to ask her what was wrong again, but two cops walked in. They were the same cops who always pointed the finger at us when something wrong happened.

"We would like to ask a few questions. Yesterday, there was a robbery in Shirokin town, do you know anything about it?"

We stood up.

"What's the meaning of this," Ren demanded.

"A witness reported that several young men fled from the scene."

"Huh? So, are you suspecting them," I growled.

It was silent for a few seconds before Yamato spoke up.

"It can't be..."

We looked at him before realization hit us.

"Do you have some clue," Yankumi asked.

"Well, last night near Shirokin town, we happened to see Goda," Yamato explained.

"Is it Goda Ryuuji, an Akadou graduate," one of the cops asked.

We nodded. They thanked us then left. We left soon after.

I woke up feeling drained. I couldn't sleep. Everytime I closed my eyes, I saw images of our last encounter with Goda. The images weren't of Goda ripping my clothes off. They were of Yamato being pinned down while Goda held a pile above him. I rolled over and looked at the time. My eyes widened. Crap, I'm going to be late. I quickly got ready, grabbed my bag and ran to school. As I ran, I spotted Yankumi. I ran up to her.

"Ohayou, Yankumi!"

She turned to me and smiled, "ohayou, Saitou."

We started walking to school when Yankumi's cellphone went off.

"Moshi moshi...," suddenly her face changed to happy to shock making me stop, "is this Goda?...What?!...Don't talk nonsense."

She hung up her phone then started running in the opposite direction. I called out to her, but she didn't stop. I ran after her which was pretty difficult. I followed her to a warehouse. Why is it always warehouses? She looked around then looked at me with wide eyes.

"They can't be..."

"Who are they," she ran off again, "wait! Yankumi!"

I ran after again. She lead me to school which made even more confused. As we ran down the halls, I noticed the school was a complete reck. We ran to our classroom to see it was worse than the rest of the school, and the guys were on the ground beaten. Yankumi went to the front office hearing the police sirens outside.

I ran to my guys, "what happened?"

Yamato pulled me into a hug, "thank god you're alright! We thought Goda got you too."

"Goda? Goda did this to you guys," I asked pulling away.

Ren kicked over a broken desk, "damn Goda!"

"For him to ambush us is so cowardly," one guy commented.

Another stood up, "we're gonna find him and bag him!"

The guys started for the door, but I blocked them.

"Don't think about stupid things."

"What's stupid about it," Honjo yelled.

"We didn't do anything to him," Ichi pointed out.

Kura kicked one of our dart boards, "we can't stay put after he did this to us!"

"What if you get back at him," Yankumi asked from behind me.

I turned to her and moved out of the way.

Yamato stepped forward, "but he may come back again to pick a fight with us," he glanced at me, "and cause more damage."

"Are you telling us to take a beating then," Kamiya asked.

"Run away," she said.

Honjo glared at her, "that's so uncool!"

"I don't care if it's uncool," she yelled, " he beat me, so I'll beat him back. That's even more childish and uncool. Don't fight a meaningless fight. It won't help. Understand?"

The guys nodded. They started cleaning up the classroom when Yankumi called me out into the hall.

"Thank you, Saitou, for stopping them."

"Like I was going to let my boyfriend and classmates get in trouble."

She smiled, "you have grown up."

I shifted, "not really."

"Well, I see it and soon you will as well as the others around you," she gave me one last smile before walking away.

After school, my guys and I went to the river. We sat on the bank in the grass.

"A meaningless fight...," Honjo said throwing a rock in the river.

"That may be right," Kamiya sighed.

We sat there thinking about Yankumi's words, but the silence didn't last long.

"We've been looking for you."

We turned to the voice to see Goda and some of his gang. We quickly stood up. Yamato and Ren stood shoulder to shoulder blocking me from Goda.

Yamato glared at Goda, "what else do you want?"

"You certainly did enough," Ren growled.

"You guys have guts, don't you," Goda smirked, "you're showing promise. Why don't you join us? You six and your Bakadou Princess," Yamato reached back and put his hand protectively on my waist as Goda continued, "I'll forgive you if you join us."

"What if we refuse," Yamato asked.

"I'll bag you until I'm satisfied."

My hands automatically went to my stomach.

Honjo was about to charge at Goda, but Yamato stopped him and stepped forward.

"We have no intention of fighting you."

"Or joining you," I added stepping forward standing slightly behind Yamato.

Ren took a step forward, "we want to graduate properly."

Goda huffed, "you're not taking that teacher's pretty words seriously, are you?"

"She doesn't just say pretty words," Ichi said taking a step forward.

Kura followed, "there's no other teachers who'd put themselves on the line and face us head-on."

Honjo and Kamiya stepped forward showing their agreement to our statements.

"I see...," Goda's smirk widened, "then, there's no other choice."

"Heza, you run," Yamato said keeping his eyes on Goda.

"I don't think so because we have some unfinished business we need to take care of. Don't we, Princess?"

Goda's gang grabbed us and dragged us to an old factory. While his gang beat the guys, Goda dragged me away from them throwing me to the ground. I quickly curled up into a ball to protect my stomach from his constant kicks. I closed my eyes. Suddenly, Goda's kicks stopped. Then I heard a huge crash. I opened my eyes to see a pile of pipes on the ground. Everyone was frozen staring at the pile. I looked around. The only person missing was Ren. I looked back at the pile and saw red and purple under the pipes.

"Ren!"

My scream broke the others out of their frozen state. I ran to the pile as Goda and his gang ran away. The others soon joined me to get the pipes off of Ren. He was unconscious and his head was bleeding. We got him to the hospital where the doctor quickly took him to the emergency room. I couldn't move. All I could do was stand there in front of the operating room. Was he going to be okay? Was he going to...? My thoughts were broken when a hand landed on my shoulder. I slowly turned to see Kaoruko. She pulled me into a hug. I wanted to cry, but no tears came out. I pulled away when I heard the door open. Kaoruko grabbed the first doctor that came out.

"How's Ren?"

"The surgery is done, but he's still unconscious," he explained, "he lost a lot of blood, and his condition is very unstable."

"By "unstable," you mean...," Sawatari paused.

I didn't even notice he was here. I looked around to see that Yankumi and the rest of 3-D were also here. I shrugged and turned my attention back to the doctor.

"Take it to mean that anything could happen," he stated before walking away.

My heart stop. Ren had to be okay. He can't leave me. He just can't. Why was it happening all over again? First my parents, now Ren...

"Excuse me, coming through," a nurse called from the operating room.

We all moved as they moved Ren out of the room. Kaoruko grabbed my hand and dragged me with her as she followed Ren. We got to his room. Kaoruko immediately went to Ren's side. I just stood by the door. Why did this have to happen again? Why?

"Saitou...," I turned to see Yankumi in the doorway, "you should go see Natsume-sensei so he can check and see if the baby is okay."

I didn't argue with her as she dragged me to a different room. Natusume was already there. I sat on the bed as Yankumi left. He checked everything. He told me the baby was okay and that I needed to be more careful. I didn't respond. I got up and walked back to Ren's room. I paused from opening the door when I heard Kaoruko's voice.

"Ren won't be defeated by this. He fights really hard at critical times. Right now too, he's fighting real hard. He won't leave me and Heza here alone because he promised to protect us and he never breaks a promise."

I sat down on the floor across from the door. I looked down at me hand like Ren did when he was remembering how he clinged to Kaoruko when their mother died. I balled my fist. Ren was going to make it. He was, no matter what. The door opened. I looked up to see Yankumi.

"Saitou, is everything okay with the baby," I nodded, "oh good."

I stood up and started walking to the waiting room to the guys, but it was empty. I went to the front desk to see Yankumi. She was on the phone. When she hung up, she ran out of the hospital.

'Yamato, what did you do?'

I quickly followed her, but stayed a good distance away so she wouldn't catch me following her. She lead me to a warehouse on the other side of town. Once I ran inside, I quickly hid behind a wall. I watched as Yankumi stood before Goda and his gang.

"You again?"

I looked around to see all of 3-D on the ground beaten.

Yankumi started walking towards Goda getting into her serious mode, "Goda, why do you hurt people like this?"

"I have a grudge against them," he yelled.

Some of his gang attacked Yankumi, but like always, she easily pushed them to the ground.

"Is your grudge something you can erase away with violence," she asked. More of his gang attacked her, but they joined their pals on the ground. "Doing this will only produce another grudge." More attacked, but soon the gang ran away leaving Goda to face Yankumi. "Goda, are you going to live like this, destroying what you don't like. By doing so, you're destroying your own live."

"What life," he yelled, "it's already destroyed."

"No, it's not," she yelled back, "no one can change the past, but you can change the future."

"Shut up! What future?"

Goda picked up a pipe and began swinging it at Yankumi. She easily punched him to the ground and took the pipe from his hand. Out of rage, Yamato picked up a pipe and ran towards Goda.

"STOP!"

I ran out of my hiding place and got between Yamato and Goda. Yamato immediately stopped.

"Heza?! Don't get in the way!"

"But hitting him with that might kill him," I screamed.

"Aren't you mortified," he asked glaring at me, "Ren has been hurt like that. How can you remain calm? I can't forgive this guy. I'm gonna kill him!"

I went up to him and slapped him hard, "don't say that so easily! How can I be calm? While thinking...what if something were to happen to Ren, I'm sad like crazy...mortified...and my blood is boiling inside."

"Then, why...," Honjo asked trying to stand up.

Tears started running down my face, "I don't want anyone else to feel this way! Yankumi has been telling us, no matter how many times we might fail or make mistakes, we can start over. But there's one thing we can't redo," I gently placed my hand on my stomach, "it's life. Ren is fighting hard. He's fighting hard to live. That's why I don't want you guys to do something that might take away someone's life. Ren's life, your life," I turned to Goda, "and Goda, your life, too, have the same weight," I turned back to Yamato and wrapped my arms around my stomach, "there's no life you can spare in a silly fight like this! Yamato, we're going to have a baby together! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"

Yamato tossed the pipe aside and pulled me into a hug.

"It does. I'm sorry. It does."

I let all the emotion about Ren incident come out. Yamato hugged me closer.

"You can change your future, right?"

I pulled away from Yamato and looked at Goda. I thought he was talking to Yankumi, but he looked right at me. I looked around to see everyone looking at me waiting for my answer. I looked back at Goda and smiled.

"Yeah, you can."

After we left the warehouse, we went to the hospital. The guys stayed outside while me and Yankumi went to Ren's room. Kaoruko was asleep. I sat down in the chair beside Ren and took his hand.

"I think I'll go keep an eye on the guys," Yankumi said leaving the room.

I watched her leave then turned back to Ren. I took a deep breath.

"Ren, hang on. Sorry, I can't do anything else but say that. You've always protected me, but at a critical time, I couldn't protect you. I guess I'm not a good little sister," I buried my face in the bed, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't...apologize."

I looked up to see Ren opening his eyes.

"You're...the best little sister."

"Ren!"

My yell woke Kaoruko.

"Ren!"

"Don't yell, you two," he groaned taking off his oxygen mask.

"I'll go get the doctor," Kaoruko said running out the door.

"I was dreaming," he said, "everyone was at a graduation ceremony. I got my diploma, and I was really happy. Heza...do you think I'll be able to graduate?"

"Of course. After all," I held out my pinky, "we promised each other we would, didn't we? That we would all graduate together. That's not a dream. I won't let it end as one."

He smiled looping his pinky with mine, "you know Heza, you've grown up."

The doctors came in and started checking on Ren. I made my way down to the front of the hospital to the guys and Yankumi. When they saw me, they ran up to me.

"Ren has come to," I smiled really big, "they said he'll be alright."

Everyone started cheering, but unfortunately, our celebration was cut short.

The next day, the school yard was flooded with reporters talking about how Goda turned himself in and about the guys taking revenge. Everyone in 3-D was nervous. I silently sat by Yamato, who was sitting in the far back separating himself from the others.

"Are we going to be punished," Ichi asked as Honjo hit the blackboard.

"We didn't do anything," Kura stated.

"But we did fight," Kamiya pointed out.

"It's my fault," Yamato whispered, "I was the one who wanted revenge."

I placed my hand on his shoulder, "Yamato...let's go."

He looked at me, "where?"

I stood up and walked to the front of the class getting their attention, "Yankumi is about to face a bunch of angry parents. We can't let her face them alone."

I ran out of the classroom. The guys followed without hesitation. When we got to the gym, we heard the parents shouting for Yankumi to quit. We ran through the doors.

"Wait!"

Everyone stopped. We ran to the side of the gym so we could face the parents better.

"Please don't make Yamaguchi quit," I begged.

"No other teachers treat us right," Honjo stated.

"Without her, we would've quit school a long time ago," Ichi explained.

"It's because of her that we're here now," Kura added.

"It's not right that such a teacher has to quit," Kamiya argued.

"She's responsible as your homeroom teacher," a parent yelled.

"I'll take responsibility," Yamato yelled, "it's my fault. I did it because I couldn't forgive Goda."

Honjo stepped forward, "it's not just his fault."

"We're equally guilty," Ichi taking a step forward.

Kura followed, "if he's punished, so should we."

Kamiya nodded, "me too. I feel the same way."

The rest of the class stepped forward agreeing with the others.

"Don't just throw "take responsibility" around like that," Yankumi yelled, "what could you do? It'll be a big mistake if you think withdrawing from school would fulfill your responsibility! Your parents are paying your tuition, you know! Listen guys, you are too young to take such a responsibility by yourself. But that's not a bad thing. You just have to keep learning things until you're a full-fledged adult. Without giving up half-way, without bursting with emotion, without hurting people, however painful it might get, grit your teeth, face forward, and go on living. You understand?"

We nodded sadly.

Yankumi turned her attention back to the parents, "just like you've said, it's true that my lacking abilities have allowed this incident to occur. I am very sorry. I will accept any punishment, but please spare the students. They still have a great deal to learn. They can learn things from now on and change, albeit little by little. I ask you to please help them walk on the right path."

She bowed her head. Soon the other teachers followed. The chairman walked forward.

"In regards to Yamaguchi-sensei and the student involved, the board will take this matter under advisement."

So we went back to our classroom and wait. We waited in silence for what seemed like hours until Honjo spoke.

"Will we be expelled?"

"If that happens, sorry, Yankumi," Ichi said looking up at Yankumi.

Kura nodded sadly, "we're really sorry."

Everyone started apologizing.

Yankumi stood up, "what are you saying? I won't let that happen! Don't say silly things."

The door opened. The chairman walked in followed by Sawatari.

"I'll announce your punishment," she said, "although we can understand your anger over Kazama's injury, we can't overlook the fact that you turned so easily to seek revenge. All of 3-D will be...suspended for two weeks."

Great, we've been expe...wait, what?

"Repent and reflect upon your actions."

Yankumi bowed, "thank you so much."

We all stood and bowed, "thank you so much!"

Once she left, we lifted our heads and cheered, but Sawatari broke it.

"Listen! Be grateful for the chairman's leniency, and don't cause trouble ever again."

With that said, he left. Yamato lifted me off the ground and spun around. I laughed before pulling him into a kiss.

It's been two weeks since the incident. It, thankfully, went by fast. I sat in my desk waiting for Yankumi to walk through the door. I looked around at everyone. They were so happy and who could blame them. The door opened, and I took a deep breath.

"Ohayou," Yankumi called as she walked through the door.

"Ohayou!"

Ren smiled, "sorry I made you worry."

She smiled back, "no problem."

"We're in your hands now," Yamato announced.

She nodded, "sure," she walked behind her desk, "listen. In your long life journey, there may be difficult and painful times, and you might stumble or fall down many times. But however often that might happen, you just have to get back on your feet. You have by your side your friends and me for support. Don't forget that."

"We know," I laughed.

The class cheered in agreement. Yankumi smiled then walked to the middle of the class.

"Alright, you guys, we'll dash together all the way to graduation. Follow me closely!"

"Oh!"

"3-D, fight-oh..."

"Oh!"

 


	15. Valentine's Day SP

**Valentine's Day SP**

I stared at the person in front of me. She had curled brown hair with natural light brown highlights pulled up in a high bun. Her brown eyes sparkled like her diamond necklace hanging around her neck. Her white dress hugged her curves and flowed to the floor like a waterfall. What surprised me the most was, she was me. I tilted my head revealing a beautiful veil.

  
"Hey," I turned from my reflection to the door to see Ren, "you ready?"

  
"Ready?"

  
He laughed, "yeah. It's your wedding remember. Man, you have to be the first bride in history of weddings to forget her wedding on her wedding day."

  
"R..right," I smiled, "sorry. I guess I'm just nervous."

  
Ren nodded, "understandable. I mean you should see Yamato. I think he's changed his shirt at least twice from sweating so much."

  
I laughed.

  
"Now let's not keep everyone waiting," he held out his arm, "shall we?"

  
I grabbed his arm. He lead me out of the room, down a hall and stopped at two closed large double doors. I felt my heart start pounding faster and faster against my ribcage. Just as the doors started to open, Ren grabs me by the shoulders.

  
"Wake up!"

  
"Huh?"

  
"Saitou, it's time to wake up!"

  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
My eyes popped open. I was no longer standing at the double doors in a white dress. I was laying on my desk in my school uniform. I sat up seeing everyone looking at me.

  
"What?"

  
"Saitou," I looked to the front at Yankumi, "please try to stay awake in class."

  
I blushed, "sorry."

  
Some class chuckled as they turned back to Yankumi as she resumed class. I looked at Yamato.

  
"When did she get here," I whispered.

  
"About 20 minutes ago," he answered looking bored as he watched Yankumi write another equation on the board, "how are you feeling?"

  
I rubbed my large stomach. I was nine months pregnant and looked ready to pop.

  
"I'm fine."

  
I looked down at my desk to see my history book wide open. Man, I was asleep for a while.

  
"Saitou," I looked at Yankumi again, "can you please solve this equation?"

  
I sighed, "sure."

  
I slowly got up with Yamato's help. I wattled up to the board. I took the chalk from Yankumi and started to solve the equation. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. I leaned my hand with the chalk on the board and placed my other hand on my stomach.

  
"Saitou, are you okay?"

  
"I'm fine," I began to do the equation again but felt the pain again, "AH!"

  
"Saitou, are you in labor?"

  
"WHAT?!"

  
I heard Yamato scream then quick footsteps coming to me. I started to take deep breaths when suddenly I felt myself being lifted. I looked up to see Yamato.

  
"Let's get you to the hospital."

  
========================================================================

  
I came out of the exam room with Natsume to be greeted by the guys and Yankumi.

  
"What happened? Where's the baby? Why are you still preg...."

  
I covered Yamato's mouth, "let Natsume explain before you start asking."

  
I dropped my hand and motioned for Natsume to explain.

  
He cleared his thoat, "Saitou-san just experienced what is called 'Braxton Hicks contractions'. They are just regular contractions most women experience during pregnancy. Now I do need you," he pointed at me, "to be careful, and you," he pointed at Yamato, "to watch her because these contractions are the body's way of getting ready for labor. So again, please be careful and watch her."

  
We thanked him and left the hospital. I was hungrey so we went to Kumai's.

  
"I can't believe you two are so close to becoming parents," Ami-chan smiled placing our orders in front of us.

  
I started eating as the guys laughed.

  
"Yeah," Ren turned to Yamato, "so what are you going to name him?"

  
"Oh it's a boy," Yankumi squealed making her presents known.

  
"We don't know," I said, "we decided to let the gender be a surprise. But I already know that she's a girl."

  
Yamato straighten in his seat, "well I say he's a boy."

  
I smiled, "well you're wrong. She's a girl."

  
He turned to me, "and how do you know this?"

  
"Because I am her mother," I said in a tone making him shut up, "now if and a very small if she's a boy, his name will be Yuya (I had to!! XD) but since she's a girl, her name is Yuri because my mom's name was Lily."

  
Yamato grabbed my hand nodding, "yeah."

  
Ami-chan giggled, "you two are so cute."

  
"Aren't they," Yankumi agreed.

  
The guys gave out mocking 'awws' making me and Yamato blush. After eating, Yamato and I started walking to our apartment. That's right our apartment. Once I hit seven months, Yamato and I moved into a big apartment thanks to his mom.

  
"So what kind of chocolates do you want for Valentine's Day? It's tomorrow."

  
"I don't know. I'm not really like chocolates, and besides, you'd probably eat them all before they get to me," he laughed.

  
"Oh ha ha. You're so funny," I rolled my eyes, "fine. I'll just get you some pineapples for our first valentine's day together."

  
He sighed as we entered our apartment. We got ready for bed then crawled under the blankets. I turned my back to Yamato. I heard him sigh again before an arm rested on my side and a hand on my stomach.

  
"I'm sorry if I upset you," he whispered.

  
I snuggled back into his chest, "no. I'm sorry. I already knew you didn't like chocolates. Let's blame the hormones on this one and not my stupidity."

  
"Okay."

  
"So you agree I'm stupid."

  
"No..I..."

  
"Gotcha."

  
I started to laugh and soon he joined in.

  
"Goodnight, Yamato. I love you."

  
"Goodnight," he kissed the back of my head, "I love you too."

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
I woke up feeling very weird. I felt wet. The baby must of laid on my bladder. I looked over to see Yamato had turned in his sleep. It read 1:30 a.m. on his alarm clock. I sighed then slowly got up to change my pjs. I went over to Yamato and shook him. He opens his eyes. He looked at me before shooting up.

  
"What...What's wrong?!"

  
"Nothing's wrong. I just need to change the sheets."

  
He started to get up, "oh."

  
"Yeah, the baby must of laid on my bladder. Sorry," I said pulling the sheets off the bed.

  
He grabbed some extra sheets from the closets, "it's alright," he began to make the bed, "it's part of it."

  
"Yeah."

  
I started to help him when I felt a sharp pain. I groaned.

  
"What's wrong?"

  
"Nothing. Probably another contraction like yester....AH!!"

  
I grasped my abdoman. Yamato ran to my side. I was about to tell him it was a false alarm, but another sharp pain shot through me making realize. This wasn't a false alarm. I let out another scream.

  
"Yamato, we need to get to the hospital nOW!!!!"

  
"Okay."

  
I let out another scream as I was rolled into the delivery room. They laid me down on a bed. The nurses tried to calm me down, but I didn't pay attention. I looked around for Yamato, but couldn't find him.

  
"Where's Yamato?"

  
"He's just outside, Miss," one of the nurses said.

  
"I need him in here."

  
She shook her head, "sorry Miss but..."

  
"No! You don't understand. I NEED him in here," I screamed, "NOW!!"

  
She held up her hands, "alright. Calm down."

  
"NOW!!!!"

  
"Alright."

  
She practically ran out of the room and came back with Yamato. He came to my side, grabbed my hand with one hand and stroked my hair with the other.

  
"It's going to be alright. Just breathe Heza. Breathe."

  
"OF COURSE YOU CAN SAY THAT! YOU DON'T HAVE A PERSON COMING OUT OF YOU!! YOU DID THIS TO ME OGATA, YAMATO, AND YOU ARE NEVER TOUCHING ME AGAIN!!!!"

  
Yamato paled. Natsume decided then to enter to room.

  
He laughed, "alright. Let's deliver this baby before the mother cruches the father-to-be's hand."

  
Next thing I knew, I was pushing.

  
"You're almost there Heza. He's almost out," Yamato winced as I tightened hold on his hand.

  
"SHE IS NOT A BOY. SHE IS A GIRL!!"

  
"Alright. A girl. She's a gi...."

  
"WAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

  
We froze at the sound. We looked over at Natsume to see him holding a baby. Our baby. He looked at us and smiled.

  
"It's a girl."

  
I let go of Yamato's hand and held out my arms. Natsume laid her on my chest before turning to Yamato.

  
"You want to cut the cord?"

  
He nodded before moving to the end of the bed. After the cord was cut, Natsume took Yuri to get her cleaned. Yamato came back to my side again and kissed my head.

  
"You did it."

  
"Yeah. I'm sorry about your hand and saying all those things."

  
"It's alright," he laughed, "it's part of it."

  
I laughed before looking smug, "hey Yamato."

  
"Yeah."

  
"She's a girl."

  
He sighed and turned away.

  
"Are you pouting?"

  
"I wanted a boy," he mumbled.

  
I busted out laughing, "I cannot believe you are pouting. The Ogata, Yamato is pouting."

  
He turned giving me a playful glare before smiling, "you know what, I don't care. Now that she's born, I don't want her to be anything else."

  
I raised an eyebrow, "really?"

  
"Yes, really, but....."

  
"But?"

  
"We have to have a boy next time."

  
"Oh so you think there's going to be a next time," I teased.

  
"Well yeah. I hope so. Why you don't want..."

  
"Yamato, I was joking."

  
They moved me into a room where a nurse dressed Yamato's hand. Once she left to get Yuri, the guys and Yankumi walked in.

  
"Hey," Yankumi looked around, "where the baby?"

  
"The nurse is bringing her," I told her.

  
Ren laughed looking over at Yamato, "she still thinks he's a girl. When is she going to understand? Guys like us don't make girls."

  
I glared at Ren, "what's that suppose to mean?"

  
He backed up as the nurse rolled a baby bed into the room. Right behind her was Yamato's mom. The nurse carefully lifted Yuri into my arms then walked out.

  
Yamato motioned his mom to Yuri, "mom this is Yuri."

  
As she and Yankumi cooed over Yuri, I looked at the guys. They were shocked.

  
"I can't believe it," Ren mumbled

  
"He's really is a girl," Kamiya gasped.

  
Ichi shook his head, "maybe it's a mistake."

  
Kura nodded, "yeah."

  
"Yeah," Honjo agreed, "yeah maybe," he lifted his pinky.

  
The guys nodded. I rolled my eyes.

  
Yamato sighed, "you guys."

  
I looked down at Yuri, "I'm sorry you have idiots for uncles."

  
Yuri just stared at me then Yamato. She reached for him.

  
I laughed, "looks like she wants daddy."

  
Yamato shifted, "oh um...."

  
"Go on Yamato. Hold your daughter," his mom gave him a small push towards the bed.

  
He nodded. I slowly transfered Yuri into his arms minding her head. He looked down at her and couldn't help but smile.

  
"We're going to give you two some time alone with Yuri," Yamato's mom said before she ushered the guys and Yankumi out of the room.

  
Yankumi paused in the doorway. She watched us wipping her eyes. She stood there until Ren and Kamiya came back. Ren pulled her away as Kamiya closed the door.

  
"Congrats."

  
We laughed before looking at each other. We smiled at each other until Yuri started to cry. Yamato quickly but gently handed her back to me. She stopped cry instantly and drifted off to sleep. I shifted out of bed and place her in the baby bed. I laid back down making room for Yamato. He laid down wrapping his arms around me.

  
"I love you," he kissed me.

  
"I love you too. Oh and Happy Valentine's Day," I mumbled drifting off.

  
He started to drift off as well, "best Valentine's Day ever."

 


	16. Graduation SP

**Graduation SP**

I couldn't believe it. Graduation was only a few days away. I also couldn't believe that it was only a month ago when little Yuri was born. She was so cute. Sure she was always crying and waking me and Yamato up in the middle of the night, but I wouldn't trade one second. She was definitely a daddy's girl. From the second we got her from Yamato's mom's after school to the second we dropped her off before school, Yamato was spoiling her, and once the guys got over the shock of her being a girl, they were spoiling her too. This baby was one pampered little princess. I smiled.

"What's that smile for Heza?"

I turned to Yamato who was sitting on top of Ren's desk.

I shook my head, "nothing. Just thinking."

He smiled. I turned to the class and laughed. Despite the fact that graduation was only a few days away, they were running around being crazy. Somethings never change.

Ren laughed, "we're still kids even though we're about to graduate, aren't we?"

Yamato turned to him, "we haven't matured at all."

"No kidding," I added.

Suddenly Honjo and Kamiya busted through the door, "guys! I found something interesting," Honjo held up a red book, "we got the graduation album!"

"Oh!"

They walked to the desk in front of Ren and everyone gathered around.

"Samples have come in, so….I brought on here secretly!"

I rolled my eyes. Yep, something's never change.

Honjo opened the book revealing the many pictures it contained. He flipped through until Kura stopped him.

"Look, these are from the sports competition."

Ichi nodded, "I remember the sports competition the best. Yankumi was really enthusiastic at that time."

We all looked up remembering the day.

Flashback

"Right now, our hearts have to be one, and let's aim for victory," Yankumi cheered.

I got into my cheer outfit with Ren and Yamato. We stood in line with some of the others while the rest of the guys were out on the field.

"Hurray! 3D! Okay! Hurray, Hurray, 3D!"

"Wah!"

The other team walked on the field. My jaw dropped at the size of them. I was so glad I didn't have to play. The team started to shrink away.

"Don't lose hope," Yankumi shouted, "you guys look good, too! In terms of our facial expression."

Ren looked at her so confused, "what?"

"What does that have to do with rugby," Yamato asked.

The team started to pump themselves up, but in the end, they were flattened. We ran to them.

"Hey! Are you guys okay?"

"We could've gotten them if it had been a fist fight…," Honjo pointed out.

Ichi laughed, "don't bother putting up a good front."

"Don't worry about winning or losing," Yankumi said, "it's important to not give up and to keep fighting till the end."

"That's right," Baba-sensei said coming to stand beside Yankumi, "I'm truly touched! It was a great match!"

Yankumi smiled, "it was, wasn't it?"

He nodded, "the 3D guys didn't even resort to foul play and played fair and square."

Yankumi's smile dropped, "huh?"

He walked in front of us, "alright guys, let's take a picture!"

We crowded together and smiled.

End of Flashback

We looked at the picture Baba-sensei took.

"We smiled with our best faces on," Yamato commented.

Everyone nodded.

"But you know for me," Honjo turned the page, "what I remember most is the Akadou festival."

"Hottie Café," Ren said.

"Not that, not that….," Honjo shouted, "the mysterious red mask!"

Kura poked Honjo's cheek, "ah! Is it that? Huh?!"

Honjo nodded then began to tell us the story.

Flashback

Honjo and Kura were carrying boxes to Hottie Café when Kura turned to Honjo.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Heard of the rumor of the Red-masked Giant that's been appearing recently around here," Kura asked.

Honjo nodded, "ah, I've heard. He suddenly appears when shakedowns occur, beats down punks and disappears."

Kura gasped, "no way. I hear he's a 2 meter giant."

Honjo's eyes widened, "really?!"

"Really!"

"What kinda freak is that?"

"I dunno."

Suddenly someone rammed into Honjo and Kura.

"O-Ouch," the guy and his friend turned to Honjo and Kura, "watch where you're going..."

"Um...what do you mean," Honjo laughed nervously.

More guys joined the two and circled Honjo and Kura.

"We bothered to come to this boring school festival," the first guy said, "you pay us for it!"

Honjo laughed nervously again, "what are you saying?"

"Shut up and give us money!"

"Hey you guys. You've gone far enough," a familiar voice said.

The boys turned to see Yankumi in all red.

The punks gathered together, "who the hell are you?"

"An ally of justice," she said behind her mask, "the people call me, 'The Akadou Mask'! If you leave now, I will overlook your crimes."

Honjo and Kura looked at each other dumbfounded.

One of the punks walked up to Yankumi, "what are you babbling about?"

Yankumi hit him in the stomach making him roll backwards. She beat up the others into a nice pile.

"Evil is destined to destruction! See you later, young men. Carefully listen to your mothers. Alright," she said to Honjo and Kura before she turned and started walking away laughing.

"Wait Yankumi," Honjo called.

She stopped and turned, "what?"

Her eyes widened. She was caught.

"So you're the Red Mask," Kura asked as Honjo laughed.

"No...um..," she pulled her mask down, "how did you know?"

"It was only obvious no matter how you saw it," Honjo explained.

"What?"

End of Flashback

We laughed at the story. We looked at the picture of us during the festival. Honjo and Kura were on either side of Yankumi. They were wearing the Red Mask's mask and bandana pointing at Yankumi.

"It was funny."

"And she thought she disguised herself," Kura said.

"It's just like Yankumi," I laughed.

Everyone nodded.

Ren crossed his eyes, "what I remember most is teh senior trip."

"That was the worst," Yankumi commented.

I nudged him, "you weren't the one who was seven months pregnant at the time."

Flashback

I was sitting on the charter bus beside Yamato when it finally came to a stop.

"Everyone, we've arrived at Kiyomizu temple," Yankumi explained, "get ready!"

We cheered. Suddenly Sawatari came on the bus and told Yankumi something. She looked at him shocked. He turned to us.

"Everyone! It's unfortunate, but it looks like the Kiyomizu Temple is closed today," he explained.

We groaned. Ren suddenly jumped from his seat looking out the window. We followed his gaze to see a rivial school. The guys opened the windows and started shouting at the rivials as the bus drove away. When we arrived at the next stop, my legs were numb.

"Everyone, we've arrived," Yankumi said, "please exit the bus."

We cheered, but Sawatari once again came on the bus and talked to Yankumi. She gasped.

"We've canceled," he called.

"What?!"

The guys started to complain until Yamato pointed out the window. Outside were a bunch of highschool girls with short skirts. The guys, except Yamato, pressed their faces to the windows. As the bus drove away, I sighed. Yamato turned to me.

"What's wrong?"

I crossed my arms, "nothing."

"Then why are you pouting?"

I looked him in the eye, "you think I'm fat, don't you?"

He looked at me shocked, "eh?!"

"Just admit it Ogata, Yamato. You think I'm fat and ugly!"

My outburst got the attention of the other guys in our group.

"I...I.."

I started to cry. Yamato turned to the others for help, but they inched away from us. Yamato turned back to me.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you looked at those girls."

"I sat here the entire time."

"But you pointed."

He sighed wrapping his arms around me and then whispered, "remember when we were talking out in the hall the morning after the guys took me to a maid cafe," I nodded, "remember what I told you," I nodded again, "it was true then and it's true now. You are the only girl I will ever look at, and you're not ugly or fat. No where near, okay?"

I sniffed, "okay."

He let out a sigh of relief. I snuggled closer to him.

"Pregnant girls are crazy," I heard Honjo whisper.

The others nodded.

End of Flashback

We looked at all the phones of the trip.

"You know, after all, we were on the bus most of the time that day," Yamato commented.

"Who knows, we could've gotten girlfriends on the trip," Ren whined.

Kamiya nodded, "damn Yankumi, she's too much."

"We're graduating without even getting girlfriends," Honjo said, "except Yamato, he's the lucky one."

I rolled my eyes as the guys began to whine.

"You guys are asking too much," Yankumi said.

We jumped back, "Yankumi!"

"When such a beautiful lady is nearby," Yankumi continued.

Ren tilted his head, "who do you mean? Heza isn't a lady."

I punched him in the arm before turning to Yankumi, "ya know, don't pop out of no where."

Yankumi ignored me and when for the graduation book.

"You guys look good smiling. Ah! This one is the best," she said making the guys smile, "oh! Look at that smile. Maybe model material," the guys began to laugh sheepishly, "I mean, me."

"Huh?!"

"You, a model," Yamato laughed.

"This takes me back...This was before summer break...," her face suddenly dropped, "why is the graduation album here? You guys took the sample album without asking?"

"Got caught," Kura whispered.

"What do you mean, "got caught"?!"

"Dont' be so uptight."

"You guys...Listen, you have nine more days till graduation," she lectured, "don't let your guard down and go wild, okay?"

"We know."

"Don't worry."

She smiled, "alright. Smile and graduate together!"

"Oh!"

The lunch bell finally rang. I quickly got my lunch and waited on the others.

"I want to eat the pork cutlet sandwich," Honjo said, "but it's hard to ignore the fried noodle stuffed bread!"

"Hurry up," Yamato called.

"Alright, I got it," Honjo cheered, "I'll get this."

He went for the fried noodle stuffed bread, but someone took it before he could. Honjo stood there shocked for a second before walking after the person, who was a second-year.

"Hey," he turned the boy, "hey, I was about to buy that fried noodle stuffed bread!"

"But I grabbed it first," the boy said as his friends came up behind him.

Kamiya and Kura came up behind Honjo.

Honjo laughed, "for a second-year student, aren't you being cocky?"

Honjo grabbed his jacket. I sighed as me, Yamato, Ren and Ichi walked to them.

"Shut up and hand over the bread," Kamiya commanded.

"C'mon, just pick something else...," Ichi said trying to calm Honjo down but Honjo shrugged him off.

Kura jumped in the middle, "a grudge over food," he took the bread out of the boy's hand, "can be scary, you know."

A hand shot out and grabbed Kura's wrist. We looked at him. I took in his arua and came to the conclusion that he was the leader.

Kura glared, "what's with your hand?"

"Can't you tell from looking," the new boy asked taking the bread from Kura before throwing his arm down.

"Don't mess with me, bastard!"

They were about to fight until a familiar voice broke through.

"Yummy!"

We turned to see Yamkumi eating. I looked at the boy's hand to see the bread was gone.

"No wonder it's so popular. Very yummy!"

"Why are you eating my fried noodle stuffed bread," Honjo whined forgetting about the second-years.

Yankumi turned to us and tore the bread in half, "want some? Here."

"Who'd want that?! Stupid," Kura said.

Ren laughed and went for the bread, "then I'll take it!"

The others went after him.

"I want it! I want it!"

I sighed and shook my head at them. I looked at Yamato. He was looking at the leader, who was looking right back. The boy dropped his gaze and turned to his friends.

"Let's go."

They left.

"Do you know him," I asked Yamato.

"I'll tell you later."

After school, we got Yuri from Yamato's mother, then we decided to go to Kumai-san's. Even though it was hours ago, Honjo was still complaining.

"Ugh! Those 2D bastards really piss me off!"

"Let's kick their asses before graduation," Kamiya said.

Kura agreed, "yeah! Let's kick them in the ass real good!"

I rocked Yuri, "don't get so worked up. You're upsetting Yuri."

The three dropped their heads, "sorry."

"It's not long before the graduation ceremony," Kumai-san said who was listening to the conversation with Ami-chan who was holding their daughter, "don't make Yankumi worry."

Honjo lifted his head, "but ya know, we have pride as seniors."

Yamato snickered as he took Yuri from me, "I wouldn't call it pride since it's over fried noodle stuffed bread."

Honjo blushed, "shut up!"

We laughed.

"Hey, hey. Has everyone here decided on their futures," Ami-chan asked.

Ren nodded, "yeah, Kuraki and I both found jobs at the same moving company."

"Really! That's great," Kumai-san said, "I bet your sister is really happy."

"She is," I laughed.

"Congrats," Ami-chan said.

"I just got my driver's license so I can work hard now," Kura cheered.

"I'm going to college," Ichi said.

Honjo straightened, "I'm starting my training in tofu making at my dad's shop!"

"Ogata and I are going to vocational schools," Kamiya said coolly.

"It's out of character, I know," Yamato said taking his chopsticks out of Yuri's hand, "but I thought I'd try studying for a bit."

Kumai-san turned to me.

"I've decided to wait a few years, so I can stay home with Yuri," Yuri gripped my finger in her small hand, "when Yuri gets bigger, is when I'll go to college."

Kumai-san nodded, "alright! Today, to celebrate your futures, eat all you want and it'll be on the house!"

The guys began to order a lot of food. I took Yuri back so Yamato could eat.

"We're surrounded by a bunch of gluttons," I told her.

She smiled making me smile. Once everyone was full, we left. We were walking around laughing.

"We've almost graduated," Ren said.

Yamato adjusted Yuri on his arm, "I dunno what to think of it."

"I didn't think that we would graduate up until recently," Honjo laughed.

"Hey, hey, hey," Kura and Ichi jumped in front of us, "let's surprise Yankumi before graduation."

"Actually, we have a good idea," Ichi cheered.

Before we could ask, Kamiya got our attention. He pointed down from our postion on a bridge.

"It's him."

We looked down to see the 2D leader. He was hanging out with boys who looked too old to be in highschool.

"Isn't it that cocky 2D bastard," Honjo asked.

"Reita..."

We turned to Yamato.

"You know him," Ichi asked.

Yamato nodded, "he's a childhood friend."

"The others are former Ara High guys, right," Ren asked, "I heard rumors of Ara High graduates getting themselves into some deep shit."

"Why is he hanging out with them," Ichi wondered.

"Reita was at Ara High up till summer," Yamato explained.

"So that brat transferred from Ara High," Kura sneered.

We watched the boys below until Yuri started to fuss. Yamato and I went home and put Yuri to bed. We started to get ready for bed.

"Are you okay," I asked.

Yamato turned to me, "what do you mean?"

"Finding out your childhood friend is...well...like we were."

He kissed my forehead, "don't worry about it, okay?"

I nodded and we went to bed.

The next morning went normal. We dropped off Yuri and went to school. Everything was normal until one of the other guys came running into the room. He told us that Ren and Kura won't get their jobs after they graduate.

Yamato stood, "really?"

He nodded, "they were talking about it in the staff room."

Kamiya sighed, "I wonder if they're doing okay."

"Kura was really happy about it," Ichi said.

"Ren too had a job secured, we thought...," Honjo paused.

We all looked down sad for our friends. The day just turned horrible. After school, we got Yuri and started walking around. Kura walked ahead of us with Ren bringing up the back. I stayed beside Ren with Yuri in my arms as the others tried to catch up to Kura.

"Hey, Kura! Kura!"

He kept walking until a group of boys knocked into him.

"Bastard, that hurt," he yelled turning to the boys.

Getting closer, I saw the group was the 2D boys from the other day.

"You guys again," Kura growled.

The boys went towards him, but Reita stopped them.

"You're the one who bumped into me, you know," Reita said coolly.

Kura started to get more annoyed, "what kind of comment is that? You're not even sorry for bumping into me?!"

Kura grabbed Reita. Yamato quickly got inbetween them. Kamiya and Honjo tried to grabbed the other 2D boys but Ren stepped in.

"There's no point to associate with these bastards!"

Everyone stopped. Reita got closer to Ren.

""These bastards"?"

"I'm sorry but I don't have time to associate with brats like you."

"Try saying that again, bastard," Reita growled.

Kura pushed Ren out of the way, "I don't wanna hear your cocky mouth!"

He went for Reita again, but Yamato stopped him.

"Stop it, Kura!"

Yuri started to fuss in my arms.

"Hit me," Reita yelled, "c'mon, try hitting me!"

Kura struggled in Yamato's grip.

"What are you up to?!"

We turned to see a pair of cops.

We started to run. We went one way, and the 2D boys went the other. Yamato stopped making me stop.

"Reita?"

Reita turned to him for a second before running after his friends.

"Yamato, come on," I yelled.

We ran after the others before the cops could catch us. We finally stopped, but Yuri was still fussing.

"It's okay now. Calm down Yuri."

Yamato gently took her out of my arms. He started to rock her making her fall asleep.

"Thank you."

He nodded.

The next morning, Yamato didn't say a word. When we reached school, he went straight to the classroom. I sighed.

"Heza!"

I turned to see Kura, "oh hey, Kura. How are you?"

He gave me a weak smile, "a little better."

We started walking.

"Hey Kura! Sai-chan," we turned to see Honjo and Kamiya running to us, "morning!"

We started walking again. We stopped when we saw the 2D group waiting on us. Kura glared at them. I quickly went in front of him.

"Kura, please not now. Please."

He nodded. I put my hand on his arm for support as we walked past them.

"Oh? Ignoring me," Reita snickered making the boys stop which made me stop, "how lame!"

Kamiya turned to him, "hey you. What do you mean?"

"Kamiya stop."

I was ignored.

Reita walked towards us, "you talk all cocky, but you're scared to fight because it's almost graduation."

"3D isn't a big deal, after all."

"Was it a lie that you controlled Akadou?"

They laughed. More 3D guys gathered around.

"Don't get carried away," Honjo yelled.

"Honjo please st..."

"We were...," Reita cut me off, "planning to destroy your graduation ceremony," he smiled at us, "look forward to it."

They started to walk away, but Kura stopped them.

"Hey bastard! Wait one sec."

"Guys come on. They're not worth it."

But they didn't listen. They led the 2D boys outside. I quickly ran to the classroom.

"Bad news! Kura and some of the others took the 2D guys out to the back!"

We quickly made our way to the back. When we got there, they were already fighting. We trying to get them to stop. Eventually Yankumi and some teachers came out and stopped the fight. We went back to our classrooms. The ones who fought stood at the front of the class. Sawatari and the chairman came in.

"What were you doing at such an important time," Sawatari scolded.

"It is preposterous to be fighting within the school," the chairman said, "I hear that you seniors were the ones that called them out."

"But they provoked us," Kura growled.

"They started it," Honjo argued.

"Kuraki! Honjo," Yankumi said making them shut up and drop their heads.

"I will not overlook your actions," the chairman continued, "everyone," she motioned to the ones who fought, "is suspended until graduation day," we looked at her in shock, "please seriously reflect on your actions."

She then walked out with Sawatari. After a few seconds of silence, Honjo kicked a desk over.

"I can't accept this," he said"

"Why single us out," Kamiya added.

They walked to their desks and sat down.

Yankumi stepped forward, "this isn't the time for you guys to be fighting anyway."

"We can't keep quiet when the juniors are making fools of us," one of them yelled.

"They're the ones who challenged us first!"

"Hey, let's finish it."

"Stop," Yamato yelled, "if we cause a problem now, we probably won't all graduate together!"

Ren stepped forward, "I'm sorry. The fight probably started because of me. I said a little too much to those guys yesterday."

Ichi spoke up, "it's not your fault! You didn't even lift a finger."

"Don't even deal with the juniors," someone said.

Honjo stood, "what? Stop acting like adults."

"It's you guys that are childish!"

Honjo grabbed the guys jacket.

"Cut it out," Yankumi said.

Honjo let go.

Kamiya sighed, "I don't care about myself, but withdraw Kura's suspension."

Honjo nodded, "that's right. This will affect his job search."

I took a deep breath before speaking, "if you're worried about Kura's job search, then why didn't you listen to me and stop before the fight happened?"

They looked down. Yankumi stepped forward.

"Kuraki, you have to do job interviews starting now. Do you plan to interview with a bruised face from a trivial fight?"

Kura slammed his fist down on his desk.

"Kura," Ichi leaned on his desk, "I understand what you're feeling, but just chill out."

"You understand," Kura stood, "don't make me laugh. Do you guys understand how I feel?"

"Don't sulk about it forever," Ichi said.

Kura laughed, "you're looking down on me, aren't you," he grabbed Ichi, "is going to college that great? Don't act like an honor student bastard!"

He shoved Ichi, who shoved right back. A fight broke out.

"Stop this nonsense," Yankumi yelled making them stop, "what on earth has gotten into you guys? You guys can be here together for another week only. And yet, you guys are fighting like this...What are you doing wasting this time you have left?! The graduation ceremony is coming up."

Kura glared at her, "what's your point? The graduation ceremony is over-hyped anyway!"

"It doesn't matter if we show up," Honjo added.

Kamiya nodded, "we can graduate even if we don't show up.

They left followed by the rest who fought. We tried to stop them but they just ignored us. I sighed. How did it become like this?

Yankumi walked into the classroom the next day looking happy.

"Morning!"

We stayed silent. She went to the front desk.

"Let's march through today! Let's see. Please open your textbooks to page 56. We'll start with the review from the last time. Let's take a look at the example: x+y=1. 2x squared-y squared=..."

I really didn't pay attention anymore. A few days past. We knew that Yankumi started looking for jobs who would take Ren and Kura after graduation, so Yamato, Ren, Ichi, and I walked up to Reita and his group.

"What do you want," Reita asked with a smug look on his face.

Yamato took a step forward, "we are serious about graduating."

"So please don't give us any more trouble," Ren added.

Reita walked up to Yamato, "did that teacher put you guys up to this? I don't believe in teachers. At my old school, if students caused trouble, they would be expelled and thrown out. All teachers are the same. They're scum."

"You're wrong," I yelled, "they're not all the same."

Ichi stepped forward, "Yankumi is different from them."

Ren nodded, "there's adults that you can trust."

Reita looked at Yamato before walked past us with his group. After school, I was walking out of school with the others when I saw a girl standing beside the gate.

"Go ahead," I told them, "I have to do something."

They nodded and started to walk away. I walked up to her. By the look of her uniform, she was from Momo High. She saw me coming moved back a little.

"Can I help you?"

She nodded timidly before handing me a folded piece of paper, "can you give this to Takasugi-san?"

I looked at her shocked, "Takasugi as in Takasugi, Reita," she nodded, "sure I can give it to him."

"Thank you," she bowed, "oh and please tell him 'thank you'."

She left. I placed the paper into my pocket before running after the others. We picked up Yuri and started walking around. Soon it was dark and we decided. We went up to Kura, Kamiya and Honjo and told them to follow us.

"What's going on," Kura asked.

We stopped outside a building.

Yamato pointed, "look at that."

They looked to see Yankumi constantly bowing at a man. Everytime he would walk away, she would quickly get in front of him and start bowing again.

"Everyday, she's been going around to various places like this," Ren explained.

"Even though the graduation is tomorrow, she's not giving up," Yamato pointed out.

Ichi smiled, "it's just like Yankumi."

I nodded, "she's always thinking about us," we turned to them, "for Yankumi's sake, let's all show up together at the graduation ceremony. Without you guys, it won't be our 3D graduation," I looked down at Yuri, "isn't that right, Yuri?"

She gave a little laugh making the guys smile.

Kura nodded, "okay."

"Sorry," Honjo said.

"Me, too," Kamiya agreed.

We all smiled bigger. We watched Yankumi until something caught my eye. It was Reita.

"I'll be right back."

I walked up to Reita, who was watching Yankumi. He glanced at me.

"What?"

I reached into my pocket and took out the paper, "I have this for you," he took the paper confused, "I don't know her name, but she said 'thank you'."

His eyes widened a little before looking down at the paper. He pocketed it and gave me a nod before walking away. I walked back to the others, and we went home.

The next morning, I woke up late. I told Yamato to take Yuri to his mom and then go on to school. I quickly got dressed and made my way to school. I was almost there when the Momo girl from yesterday came running to me. She looked frightened.

"He...help," she panted.

"What's wrong?"

"They took Takasugi-san."

"Who and where?"

"The group he was hanging out with. He told me that he was cutting ties with them last night, and they must've been mad," she pointed in the direction where the old warehouses were, "they took him that way."

I nodded, "okay. I need you to go to Akadou and go to class 3D, and tell a Ogata, Yamato and a Kazama, Ren what you just told me."

She looked more frighten, "but..."

"You have to do this if you want to help Reita."

She nodded and took off. I ran in the direction of the warehouses and spotted the grads. They pulled Reita into a building. I snuck in. They started beating him. I was about to help him when 3D busted into the warehouse.

"Reita," Yamato called as I came out of my hiding place to stand with them.

The grads and Reita looked at us.

"Who are you guys," the leader asked.

Yamato stepped forward, "we are Akadou Acadamey, class 3D."

Ren stepped forward, "we're his upper-classmen now."

Next was Ichi, "can you guys lay off him already?"

The leader laughed, "you Akadou guys came here to start a fight with us Ara High grads?"

"We didn't come here for that reason," Honjo said.

"We came to get him," Kura added.

"So...can't you let up on him now," Kamiya asked.

"Please," I said as the rest of the class walked up behind us.

The grads started to disprese. We ran over to Reita.

"Reita," Yamato knelt down beside him, "are you okay?"

"Butt out," he replied.

"How can we butt out," Yamato help him to his feet.

Ren turned to the leader, "sorry, but we're taking him."

"That's not happening," the leader laughed.

Suddenly one of the grads shut and locked the door. The rest came out of the shadow with pipes in their hands.

"I still haven't taught him a lesson!"

The grads came at us. They were mainly after Reita, but we kept pushing him out of the way and taking the plows. I kept Reita with me. Two grads grabbed us, but Yamato and Ren pulled them off of us.

"Hurry, go! Escape! Both of you," Yamato yelled.

I started to help Reita to the door, but we were kicked down by the leader. He grabbed a pipe from the ground. I covered Reita as the leader went to hit him. Suddenly a loud bang shook the warehouse. I moved off of Reita and smiled.

'Yankumi.'

By the look on the rest of 3D's faces, they all thought the same thing. Everyone froze as a small part of the roof caved. The dust cleared and on the rubble stood Yankumi.

"You guys have done more than enough."

"What are you," the leader asked.

She started to walk towards him, "me? I am their teacher."

"Huh? You're a teacher," the grads laughed, "miss. teacher. We're just teaching Reita a lesson."

"A lesson?"

"We treated Reita as a friend even after he went to Akadou, but he tried to leave us with one simple phone call."

She looked at Reita, "Takasugi..."

He looked away.

"We can't let the brat look down on us," the leader continued as he handed the pipe to another grad, "miss. teacher. You better go home if you don't wanna get hurt."

He put his hand on her shoulder. Big mistake. She twisted his arm and shoved him to the ground. He got up shocked.

"Bitch. I won't go easy even if you're a woman!"

"That is my line," Yankumi said, "in order to protect my beloved student, I won't go easy on you."

The grads started to attack her, but she easily beat them to the ground. The leader was the last one, but he turned and ran. The other grads ran after him.

"Why," Reita asked, "why would a teacher come to such a place?"

She turned to him, "for my students, I will go anywhere and do anything. You guys are worth that much to me. These guys," she motioned to us, "were rebellious at first and they wouldn't even listen to a single word that I said. 'Shut up' and 'Butt out' were the only things that came out of their mouths. But...all of them always butted heads with me. Their roots are very straight and they are honest to the point of naivety."

Everyone started helping each other up. They came and circle Reita and Yankumi as I stood. I went to Yamato's side who wrapped his arm around my waist bringing me closer to him. Yankumi knelt down in front of Reita.

"Takasugi. Do you understand the reason why they came here and neglected their own graduation," he stayed silent, "they wanted to tell you something important," she looked at us and stood, "isn't that right?"

We all nodded.

"When we look at you," Yamato started before helping Reita to his feet, "we remember how we were. That's why we couldn't ignore this."

"We've done something similar loads of times," Honjo explained.

"But...we've found life-long friends at Akadou," Ren added.

"We're all idiots, though," Kura laughed.

"Who are you call an idiot, idiot," I said making everyone laugh harder.

"Takasugi. You've also made that step courageously, haven't you," Yankumi asked, "those feelings...Cherish them, and the friend who help you take that step."

Reita looked at him confused. I stepped forward.

"It's not like we magically appeared here. We had help," I turned to the door and motioned for the girl to come in.

She timidly made her way to us. Reita's eyes widened. She went up to him and held out a handkerchief.

"Are you alright?"

He slowly grabbed the handkerchief. He stared at it for a few seconds before looking at her. He gave her a small smile before nodding.

Yankumi smiled before turning to us, "alright, let's go. It's graduation time."

"What?"

"But looking like this," Honjo asked.

"We're going," she said.

Ren nodded, "let's go! Everyone together."

"That's right," Yamato smiled, "let's go with our chests up."

Yankumi smiled bigger, "alright. Let's go!"

"Oh!"

We started to run to the school, but I stopped and turned to Reita and the girl.

"Will you be alright now," I asked Reita.

He huffed at my question.

The girl laughed at him before turning to me, "I'll make sure he gets back to school, Miss."

"Okay and don't call me 'Miss', please. It makes me feel old. Call me Heza."

"Okay and you can call me Yuki."

I smiled, "alright. Bye Yuki. See ya Reita."

She bowed as he gave me a nod. I ran after the others. I caught up to them outside the school. The chairman was talking to Yankumi.

"Up until the last minute...Were they fighting?"

"No, they weren't."

"We can't let them into the ceremony looking like this," the chairman said.

"Please wait. There's a good reason. They fought to protect something important," Yankumi explained, "they couldn't make it to the graduation ignoring it."

"Miss. Yamaguchi, are you saying that these kids are qualified to participate in the graduation ceremony?"

"Hai."

The chairman looked at us before looking back at Yankumi, "understood."

I felt my heart sore.

Yankumi bowed, "thank you!"

We all sat in our section and waited for Sawatari to call our class. After what seemed like forever, he finally called us.

"Class 3D."

We stood. Yankumi called out names one by one. We went up to the chairman who handed us our diploma and bowed to her. When Yankumi called my name, I felt like crying.

Once everyone had their diplomas, Sawatari continued.

"Now to continue...the congratulatory address. Representing the faculty, class 3D's homeroom teacher, Miss Yamaguchi."

Yankumi walked up to the podium. She held up a paper and started reading.

"To all the graduates, and people here in attendance, congratulations for today. On this day, looking at all of you, fine young people, about to leave Akadou Academy...," she paused and looked at us for a while before laughing, "you guys...couldn't help but do something reckless to the very last minute, could you," she placed down the paper confusing everyone, "I'm sorry, that they're here on this formal last day looking like this. But I...can only be proud of them. Not being slick or shrewd, these students face various obstacles everyday, but still try to go down the straight path. I'm glad I became a teacher from the bottom of my heart. I can't say that the surrounding environment for children is great these days. However, I don't want you to blame the present age. What's important shouldn't change depending on the time. No. It should never be changed. Knowing one's pain. Thinking of your friends. Thinking of your family. Not lying about things. Trusting in people. These might be embarrassing to say. But we must tell these things straight without embarrassment and fear. I believe that it"s an adult's duty to convey these things to them. Listen carefully guys. Once you're out in society, you'll be lost and troubled and sometimes at a standstill. There may be times when you want to give in when everything goes wrong. This is what life's about. But...don't be afraid to change onwards. If things don't go well, don't blame it on someone or something. With confidence in the things you learned at school, I want you to live facing forward. You guys should've learned. That no matter where you are or what you do, you can change if you put your mind to it. That if you courageously take that step, new possibilities await. What's most important is what's inside of you. Congratulations on graduating."

Everyone was silent until the teachers started clapping then stood. The parents stood up clapping. I felt something on my cheek. It was tears.

'Mama. Daddy. I've done it. I've gradutated.'

We went back to our classroom. We sat in our desk with our diplomas and graduation albums on our desks. Yankumi walked in and stood at the front. Before she could say anything, Sawatari walked in.

"A second, Miss. Yamaguchi," he handed her some papers, "these are companies who have offered interviews. Please hand it out to Kazama and the others."

We looked at him in shock.

Yankumi smiled, "head teacher, why?"

He quickly gave his excuse, "it's obvious that these lost souls will go off-track if we throw them out into society like this. Our school's name will be tarnished if that happens. Please don't misunderstand. I'm doing this for the school's honor..."

Ren cut him off by slamming his hand on his desk. He stood.

"Thank you."

Kura stood, "thank you."

Sawatari huffed, "it's too early to be relieved. It's only interviews."

He went to leave, but Yankumi stopped him.

"Head teacher Sawatari. Thank you for giving them strict guidance."

She bowed.

Yamato stood, "thank you."

Sawatari and Yankumi turned to us as the rest of us stood.

We bowed, "thank you!"

"You give me the creeps," Sawatari said trying to hide his smile, "listen you guys. You've graduated admirably. Don't you come back."

He left. We rose and smiled. We left the classroom and made our way to the gate. We stop before we got to it and turned to Yankumi.

"This is where we part," Yankumi said.

"Yankumi," she looked at Ichi, "we have something to show you."

"What is it?"

"Over there," Honjo said pointing towards the school.

She looked to see someting on the Akadou tower.

"Ready, set...3, 2, 1, 0!"

The banner dropped. It said 'Thank you Akadou Academy' and 'Thank you Yankumi' with a picture of Yankumi and a big '09 at the bottom. We smiled proudly at it as Yankumi stood there stunned. We started crowding towards Yankumi.

"It's a masterpiece, isn't it?"

"Everyone made it for this day."

"We thought we might not make it on time."

"Now lastly," Ren walked in front of Yankumi and put his hand out, "c'mon."

We all crowded around and put our hands out toward his. Yamato put his hand on top.

"Akadou is...our alma mater!"

Yankumi put her hand on top of his.

"Fight-oh."

We threw our hands up in the air, "oh!"

We broke apart and said good-bye to Yankumi. Before I made it to the gate, I was pulled back. I turned to see Yamato.

"There was one more thing I wanted to do before we stepped into the world."

He handed his diploma and book to Kamiya and grabbed a small box from Ren before going down on one knee. My heart stopped. He opened the box to reveal a simple diamond ring.

"I'm not really know a lot of things. But I do know that I love you. So will you, Saitou, Heza, do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

I smiled, "duh."

Everyone laughed as he stood and placed the ring on my finger. Everyone started to cheer. I hugged him tight. We parted. Yamato got his stuff from Kamiya before we all took that step outside the gate. That step out into the world together.


End file.
